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Class _i_2ii^:Ml 



Book 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 



RURAL LIFE 
AND THE RURAL SCHOOL 



BY 
JOSEPH KENNEDY 

DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF EDLJCATION IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA 




AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO 



L"B 



\5&~l 



•n^ 



Copyright, 1915, by 

JOSEPH KENNEDY 

Copyright, 1915j in Great Britain 



Rural Life and the Rural School 
W. P. I. 



FEB II 1915 



IC1,A393594 



PREFACE 

This volume is addressed to the men and women who 
have at heart the interests of rural life and the rural school. 
I have tried to avoid deeply speculative theories on the one 
hand, and' distressingly practical details on the other; and 
have addressed myself chiefly to the intelligent individual 
everjrwhere — to the farmer and his wife, to the teachers 
of rural schools, to the public spirited school boards, 
individually and collectively, and to the leaders of rural 
communities and of social centers generally. I have tried 
to avoid the two extremes which Guizot says are always 
to be shunned, viz.: that of the " visionary theorist " and 
that of the '^Hbertine practician. " The former is analogous 
to a blank cartridge, and the latter to the mire of a swamp 
or the entangled underbrush of a thicket. The legs of 
one's theories (as Lincoln said of those of a man) should 
be long enough to reach the earth; and yet they must be 
free to move upon the solid ground of fact and experience. 
Details must always be left to the person who is to do the 
work, whether it be that of the teacher, of the farmer, or of 
the school officer. 

I am aware that there is a veritable flood of books on 
this and kindred topics, now coming from the presses of 
the country. My sole reasons for the publication of the 
present volume are the desire to deliver the message which 
has come to fruition in my mind, and the hope that it 



4 PREFACE 

may reach and interest some who have not been benefited 
by a better and more systematic treatise on this subject. 

By way of credential and justification, I would say that 
the message of the book has in large measure grown out of 
my own life and thought; for I was born and brought up in 
the country, there I received my elementary education, 
and there I remained till man grown. Practically every 
kind of work known on the farm was familiar to me, and 
I have also taught and supervised rural schools. These 
experiences are regarded as of the highest value, and I re- 
vert in memory to them with a satisfaction and affection 
which words cannot express. 

If there should seem to be a note of despair in some of 
the earher chapters as to the desired outcome of the prob- 
lems of rural life and the rural school, it is not intended 
that such impression shall be complete and final. An 
attempt is made simply to place the problem and the facts 
in their true light before the reader. There has been much 
"palavering" on this subject, as there has been much en- 
forced screaming of the eagle in many of our Fourth of July 
"orations." I feel that the first requisite is to conceive 
the problems clearly and in all seriousness. 

If these problems are to be solved, true conceptions of 
values must be estabhshed in the social mind. Many pres- 
ent conceptions, like those of the personality of the teacher, 
standards for teaching, supervision, school equipment, 
salary, etc., must first be £?z5-established, and then higher 
and better ones substituted. There will have to be a 
genuine and intelligent "tackling" of the problems, and 
not, as has been the case too often, a mere playing with 
them. There will have to be some real statesmanship 



PREFACE 5 

introduced into the present laissez-faire spirit, attitude, 
and methods of American rural hfe and rural education. 
The nation in this respect needs a trumpet call to action. 
There is need of a chorus, loud and long, and if the small 
voice of the present discussion shall add only a little — 
however little — to this volume of sound, there will be so 
much of gain. This is my aim and my hope. 

JOSEPH KENNEDY 

The University of North Dakota 



CONTENTS 



I. Rural Life 9 

A generation ago; Chores and work; Value of work; Ex- 
tremes; Yearly routine; Disliked in comparison; Other 
hard jobs; Harvesting; Threshing; Welcome events; 
Winter work; What the old days lacked; The result; The 
backward rural school; Women's condition unrelieved; The 
rural problem must be met; Facilities. 

II. The Urban Trend 19 

Cityward; Attractive forces; Conveniences in cities; 
Urbanized literature; City schools; City churches; City 
work preferred; Retired farmers; Educational centers; 
Face the problem; Educational value not realized; Wrong 
standard in the social mind; Rural organization; Play- 
ing with the problem. 

III. The Real and the Ideal School . . . 28 

The building; No system of ventilation; The surround- 
ings; The interior; Small, dead school; That picture and 
this; Architecture of building; Get expert opinion; Othei 
surroundings; Number of pupils; It will not teach alone; 
The teacher; A good rural school; The problem. 

IV. Some Lines of Progress 38 

Progress; In reaping machines; The dropper; The hand 
rake; The self rake; The harvester; The wire binder; The 
twine binder; Threshing machine; The first machine; Im- 
provements; The steam engine; Improvements in ocean 
travel; From hand-spinning to factory; The cost; Progress 
in higher education; Progress in normal schools; Progress 
in agricultural colleges; Progress in the high schools; How 
is the rural school? 

V. A Backward and Neglected Field ... 49 

Rural schools the same everywhere; Rural schools no 
better than formerly; Some improvements; Strong person- 
alities in the older schools;^Iore men needed; Low stand- 
ard now; The survival of the unfittest; Short terms; Poor 
supervision; No decided movement; Elementary teaching 
6 



CONTENTS 



not a profession; The problem difficult, but before us; 
Other educational interests should help; Higher standards 
necessary; Courses for teachers; The problem of compen- 
sation; Consolidation as a factor; Better supervision neces- 
sary; A model rural school; The teacher should lead; A 
good boarding place. 

VI. Consolidation of Rural Schools ... 63 

The process; When not necessary; The district system; 
The township system; Consolidation difficult in district 
sj'stem; Easier in township system; Consolidation a special 
problem for each district; Disagreements on transportation; 
Each community must decide for itself; The distance to be 
transported; Responsible driver; Cost of consolidation; 
More life in the consolidated school; Some grading desir- 
able; Better teachers; Better buildings and inspection; 
Longer terms; Regularity, punctuality, and attendance; 
Better supervision; The school as a social center; Better 
roads; Consolidation coming everywhere; The married 
teacher and permanence. 

VII. The Teacher 77 

The greatest factor; What education is; What the real 
teacher is; A hypnotist; Untying knots; Too much kind- 
ness; The button illustration; The chariot race; Physically 
sound; Character; Well educated; Professional preparation; 
Experience; Choosing a teacher; A "scoop"; What makes 
the difference; A question of teachers. 

VIII. The Three Inseparables 88 

The "mode"; The "mode" in labor; The "mode" in 
educational institutions; No "profession"; Weak person- 
alities; Low standard; The norm of wages too low; The 
inseparables; Raise the standard first; More men; Coopera- 
tion needed; The supply; Make it fashionable; The retire- 
ment system; Similar problem in the church; City and 
country salaries — effects; The solution demands more; A 
good school board; Board and teacher; The ideal. 

IX. The Rural School Curriculum . . .100 

Imitation; The country imitates the city; Textbooks; 
An interpreting core; Rural teachers from the city; A 
course for rural teachers; All not to remain in the country-; 
Mere textbook teaching; A rich environment; Who will 
teach these things?; The scientific spirit needed; A course 
of study; Red tape; Length of term; Individual work; 
"Waking up the mind "; The overflow of instruction; Affili- 
ation; The "liking point"; The teacher, the chief factor. 



CONTENTS 



X. The Social Center 114 

The teacher, the leader; Some community activities; 
The literary society; Debates; The school program; Spelling 
schools; Lectures; Dramatic performances; A musical pro- 
gram; Slides and moving pictures; Supervised dancing; 
Sports and games; School exhibits; A public forum; Cour- 
tesy and candor; Automobile parties; Full life or a full 
purse; Organization; The inseparables. 

XI. Rural School Supervision 127 

Important; Supervision standardizes; Supervision can be 
overdone; Needed in rural schools; No supervision in some 
states; Nominal supervision; Some supervision; An im- 
possible task; The problem not tackled; City supervision; 
The purpose of supervision; What is needed; The term; As- 
sistants; The schools examined; Keep down red tape; Help 
the social centers; Conclusion. 

XII. Leadership and Cooperation . . . .139 

The real leader; Teaching vs. telling; Enlisting the co- 
operation of pupils; Placing responsibility; How people 
remain children; On the farm; Renters; The owner; The 
teacher as a leader; Self-activity and self-government; 
Taking laws upon one's self; An educational column; All 
along the educational line. 

XIII. The Farmer and His Home 152 

Farming in the past; Old conceit and prejudice; Leveling 
down; Premises indicative; Conveniences by labor-saving 
devices; Eggs in several baskets; The best is the cheapest; 
Good work; Good seed and trees; A good caretaker; Family 
cooperation; An ideal life. 

XIV. The Rural Renaissance 160 

Darkest before the dawn; The awakening; The agricul- 
tural colleges; Conventions; Other awakening agencies; 
The farmer in politics; The National Commission; Mixed 
farming; Now before the country; Educational extension; 
Library extension work; Some froth; Thought and attitude. 

XV. A Good Place After All 169 

Not pessimistic; Fewer hours of labor than formerly; 
The mental factor growing; The bright side of old-time 
country life; The larger environment; Games; Inventive- 
ness in rural life; Activity rather than passivity; Child 
labor; The finest life on earth. 



RURAL LIFE AND THE RURAL 
SCHOOL 

CHAPTER I 
RURAL LIFE 

It is only within the past decade that rural life 
and the rural school have been recognized as genuine 
problems for the consideration of the American people. 
Not many years ago, a president of the United States, 
acting upon his owti initiative, appointed a Rural School 
Commission to investigate country life and to suggest 
a solution for some of its problems. That Commission 
itself and its report were both the effect and the cause 
of an awakening of the public mind upon this most 
important problem. Within the past few years the 
cry "Back to the country" has been heard on every 
hand, and means are now constantly being proposed for 
reversing the urban trend, or at least for minimizing it. 

A Generation Ago. — Rural life, as it existed a quarter 
of a century or more ago, was extremely severe and 
indeed to our mind quite repellent. In those days — 
and no doubt they are so even yet in many places — 
the conditions were too often forbidding and deterrent. 



lO RURAL LIFE 

Otherwise how can we explain the very general tendency 
among the younger people to move from the country 
to the city? 

Chores and Work. — The country youth, a mere 
boy in his teens, was, and still is, compelled to rise 
early in the morning — often at five o'clock — and to go 
through the round of chores and of work for a long 
day of twelve to fifteen hours. First, after rising, he 
had his team to care for, the stables were to be cleaned, 
cows to be milked, and hogs and calves to be fed. 

After the chores were done the boy or the young man 
had to work all day at manual labor, usually close to 
the soil; he was allowed about one hour's rest at dinner 
time; in the evening after a day's hard labor, he had to 
perform the same round of chores as in the morning so 
that there was but a short time for play and recreation, 
if he had any surplus energy left. He usually retired 
early, for he was fatigued and needed sleep and rest 
in order to be refreshed for the following day, when he 
would be required only to repeat the same dull round 
over and over again. 

Value of Work. — Of course work is a good thing. 
A moderate and reasonable amount of labor is usually 
the salvation of any individual. No nation or race 
has come up from savagery to civilization without the 
stimulating influence of labor. It is likewise true that 
no individual can advance from the savagery of child- 
hood to the civilization of adult life except through 
work of some kind. Work in a reasonable amount is a 



RURAL LIFE II 

blessing and not a curse. It is probably due to this 
fact that so many men in our history have become dis- 
tinguished in professional life, in the forum, on the 
bench, and in the national Congress; in childhood and 
youth they were inured to habits of work. This 
kept them from temptation, and endowed them with 
habits of industry, of concentration, and of purpose. 
The old adage that "Satan finds some mischief still for 
idle hands to do," found Httle apphcation in the rural 
life of a quarter of a century ago. 

Extremes. — Even with all its unrecognized advan- 
tages, the fact remains that rural life has been quite 
generally repugnant to the average human being. 
There are individuals who become so accustomed to 
hard work that the habit really grows to be pleasant. 
This, no doubt, often happens. Habit accustoms the 
individual to accommodate himself to existing condi- 
tions, no matter how severe they may be. A very old 
man who was shocking wheat under the hot sun of a 
harvest day was once told that it must be hard work 
for him. He replied, "Yes, but I like it when the 
bundles are my own." So the few who are interested 
and accustomed by habit to this kind of hfe may 
enjoy it, but to the great majority of people the con- 
ditions would be decidedly unattractive. 

Yearly Routine. — The yearly routine on the farm 
used to be about as follows: In early spring, before 
seeding time had come, all the seed wheat had to be 
put through the fanning mill. The seed was sown 



12 RURAL LIFE 

by hand. A man carried a heavy load of grain upon 
his back and walked from one end of the field to the 
other, sowing it broadcast as he went. After the wheat 
had been sown, plowing for the corn and potatoes was 
begun and continued. These were all planted by hand, 
and when they came above ground they were hoed by 
hand and cultivated repeatedly by walking and holding 
the plow. 

Disliked in Comparison, — All of this work implies, 
of course, that the person doing it was close to the 
soil; in fact, he was in the soil. He wore, necessarily, 
old clothes somewhat begrimed by dirt and dust. 
His shoes or boots were heavy and his step became 
habitually long and slow. Manual labor always neces- 
sitates some absence and neglect of cleanliness. The 
laborer on the farm necessarily has about him the odor 
of horses, of cows, and of barns. These, it is true, are 
not bad, but they are nevertheless repulsive, when 
compared with the neatness and cleanliness of the clerk 
in the bank or behind the counter. We do not write 
these words in any spirit of disparagement, but merely 
from the point of view at which many young people in 
the country view them. We are trying to face the 
truth in order to understand the problem to be solved. 
It is essential to look at the situation squarely and to 
view it steadily and honestly. Hiding our heads in 
the sand will not clarify our vision. 

Other Hard Jobs. — The next step in the yearly 
round was haymaking. The grass was frequently 



RURAL LIFE 13 

cut with scythes. In any event the work of raking, 
curing, and stacking the hay, or the hauHng it and 
pitching it into the barns was heavy work. There was 
no hayfork operated by machinery in those days. When 
not haying, the youth was usually put to summer- 
fallomng or to breaking new ground, to fencing or 
splitting rails, — all heavy work. No wonder that he 
always welcomed a rainy day! 

Harvesting. — Then came the wheat - harvest time. 
Within the memory of the author some of the grain 
was cut with cradles; later, simple reaping machines 
of various kinds were used; but with them went the 
binding, shocking, and stacking, all performed by 
hand and all arduous pieces of work. These opera- 
tions were interspersed with plowing and threshing. 
Then came com cuttmg, potato digging, and corn 
husking. 

Threshing. — In those days most of the work around 
a threshing machine was also done by hand. There 
was no self-feeding apparatus and no band-cutting 
device; there was no straw-blower and no measuring 
and weighing attachments. It usually required about 
a dozen "hands" to do all the work. These men 
worked strenuously and usually in dusty places. The 
only redeeming feature of the business was the oppor- 
tunity given for social intercourse which accompanied 
the work. Men, being social by instinct, always work 
more willingly and more strenuously when others are 
with them. 



14 RURAL LIFE 

Welcome Events. — It is quite natural, as we have 
said, that under such conditions as these the youth 
longed for a rainy day. A trip to the city was always 
a delightful break in the monotony of his life, and a 
short respite from severe toil. Sunday was usually 
the only social occasion in rural life. It was always 
welcome, and the boys, even though tired physically 
from work during the week, usually played ball, or 
went swimming, or engaged in other games on Sunday 
afternoons. Living in isolation all the week and en- 
gaged in hard labor, they instinctively craved com- 
panionship and society. 

Winter Work. — When the fall work was done, 
winter came with its own occupations. There were 
usually about four months of school in the rural dis- 
trict, but even during this season there was much 
manual labor to be done. Trees were to be cut down 
and wood was to be chopped, sawed, and split for the 
coming summer. Land frequently had to be cleared 
to make new fields; the breaking of colts and of steers 
constituted part of the sport as well as of the labor of 
that season of the year. 

What the Old Days Lacked. — There was Httle or no 
machinery as a factor in the rural life of days gone by. 
In these modem times, of course, many things have 
made country life more attractive than formerly. 
Twenty-five years ago there was no rural delivery, no 
motor cycle, no automobile; even horses and buggies 
were somewhat of a luxury, for in the remote country 



RURAL LIFK 1 5 

districts the ox team or "Shanks' mares" formed the 
usual mode of travel. 

The Result. — It is little wonder that under such 
circumstances discontent arose and that people who 
by nature are sociable longed to go where hfe was, 
in their opinion, more agreeable. Even with all the 
later conveniences and improvements, the trend city- 
ward still continues and may continue indefinitely in 
the future. The American people may as well face 
the facts as they are. It is difficult if not impossible 
to make the country as attractive to young people as 
is the city; and consequently to reverse or even stop 
the urban trend is going to be most difficult. Indeed, 
some of the things which make rural life pleasant, 
like the automobile, favor this trend, which probably 
will continue until economic pressure puts on the 
brakes. Even now, with all our improvements, the 
social factors in rural life are comparatively small. 
Here is one of our greatest problems: How to increase 
the fullness of social life in rural communities so as to 
make country life and living more attractive. 

The Backward Rural School. — ^\lthough the material 
conditions and facilities for work have improved by 
reason of various inventions in recent years, the one- 
room rural school of former days was as good as, if 
not better in some respects than, the school of to-day. 
Formerly there were many men engaged in teaching 
who could earn as much in the schoolroom as they could 
in other fields. There were consequently in the rural 



1 6 RURAL LIFE 

schools a great many strong personalities, both men 
and women. Since that time new opportunities and 
callings have developed so rapidly that some of the 
most capable people have been attracted away from 
the rural schools, and have left these schools in a 
weakened condition. 

Women's Condition Unrelieved. — With all our im- 
provements and conveniences, the work of women in 
country communities has been relieved but little. 
Rural life has always been and still is a hard one for 
women. It has been, in many instances, a veritable 
state of slavery; for women in the country have always 
been compelled to do not only their own proper work, 
but the work of two or three persons. The working 
hours for women are even longer than those for men ; 
for breakfast must be prepared for the workmen, and 
household work must be done after the evening meal 
is eaten. It is little to be wondered at that women 
as a rule wish to leave the drudgery of rural life. Under 
the improved conditions of the present day, with all 
kinds of machinery, the work of women is lightened 
least. ^ 

The Rural Problem Must Be Met. — I have given 
a short description of rural life in order to have a 
setting for the rural school. The school is, without 
doubt, the center of the rural life problem, and we 

1 There is an illuminating article, entitled " The Farmer and His 
W'fe," by Martha Bensley Bruere in Good Housekeeping Magazine, 
for June, 1914, p. 820. 



RURAL LIFE 17 

are face to face with it for a solution of some kind. 
The problems of both have been too long neglected. 
Now forced upon our attention, they should receive 
the thoughtful consideration of all persons interested 
in the welfare of society. They are difificult of solu- 
tion, probably the most difficult of all those which our 
generation has to face. They involve the reduction of 
the repellent forces in rural life and the increase of 
such forces and agencies as will be attractive, es- 
pecially to the young. The great problem is, how can 
the trend cityward be checked or reversed? 

What attractions are possible and feasible in the 
rural communities? In each there should be some 
recognized center to provide these various attractions. 
There should be lectures and debates, plays of a 
serious character, musical entertainments, and social 
functions; even the moving picture might be made of 
great educational value. There is no reason why the 
people in the country are not entitled to all the satis- 
fying mental food which the people of the city enjoy. 
These things can be secured, too, if the people will 
only awake to a realization of their value, and will 
show their willingness to pay for them. Something 
cannot be secured for nothing. In the last resort the 
solution of most problems, as well as the accomplish- 
ment of most aims, involves the expenditure of money. 
When the people of the rural communities come to 
value the finer educational, cultural, civilizing, and 
intangible things more than they value money, the 

Rural Life — 2 



1 8 RURAL LIFE 

problem will be solved. It is certainly a question of 
values — in aims and means. 

Facilities. — Many inventions might be utilized on 
the farm to better advantage than they are at present. 
But people live somewhat isolated lives in rural com- 
munities and there are not the active comparison and 
competition that one finds in the city; improvements 
of all kinds are therefore slower of realization. Values 
are not forced home by every-day discussion and 
comparison. People continue to do as they have been 
accustomed to do, and there are men who own large 
farms and have large bank accounts who continue to 
live without the modem improvements, and hence with 
but few comforts in life. A revival of interest in the 
best rural life needs to be awakened, and to this end 
rural communities should be better organized, socially, 
economically, and educationally. 



CHAPTER II 
THE URBAN TREND 

In the preceding chapter we discussed those forces 
at work in rural life which tend to drive people from 
the farm to the city. It was shown that, on the 
whole, up to the present at least, farm life has not been 
as pleasant as it should or could be made. Many 
aspects of it are uncomfortable, if not painful. Hard 
manual labor, long hours of toil, and partial isolation 
from one's fellows usually and generally characterize it. 
Of course, there are many who by nature or habit, or 
who by their ingenuity and thrift, have made it serve 
them, and who therefore have come to love the life 
of the country; but we are speaking with reference to 
the average men and women who have not mastered 
the forces at hand, which can be turned to their service 
only by thought and thrift. 

Cityward. — The trend toward the cities is unmis- 
takable. So alarming has it become that it has aroused 
the American people to a realization that something 
must be done to reverse it or at least to minimize it. 
At the close of the Revolutionary War only three per 
cent of the total population of our country lived in 
what could be termed cities. In 1810 only about five 

19 



20 THE URBAN TREND 

per cent of the whole population was urban; while 
in 1910 forty-six per cent of our people lived in cities. 
This means, of course, that, relatively, the forces 
of production are not keeping pace with the growth and 
demands of consumption. In some of the older Atlan- 
tic states, as one rides through the country, vast areas 
of uncultivated land meet the view. The people have 
gone to the city. Large cities absorb smaller ones, and 
the small towns absorb the inhabitants of the rural 
districts. Every city and town is making strenuous 
efforts to build itself up, if need be at the expense of 
the smaller towns and the rural communities. To 
"boom" its own city is assumed to be a large and legit- 
imate part of the business of every commercial club. 
This must mean, of course, that smaller cities and towns 
and the rural communities suffer accordingly in business, 
in population, and in life. 

Attractive Forces. — The attractive forces of the city 
are quite as numerous and powerful as the repellent 
forces of the country. The city is attractive from 
many points of view. It sets the pace, the standard, 
the ideals; even the styles of clothing and dress origi- 
nate there. It is where all sorts of people are seen 
and met with in large numbers; its varied scenes are 
always magnetic. Both old and young are attracted 
by activities of all kinds; the ''white way" in every 
city is a constant bid for numbers. In the city there 
is always more liveliness if not more life than in the 
country. Activity is apparent everywhere. Every- 



THE URBAN TREND 21 

thing seems better to the young person from the 
country; there is more to see and more to hear; the 
show windows and the display of Hghting are a con- 
stant lure; there is an endless variety of experiences. 
Life seems great because it is cosmopolitan and not 
provincial or local. In any event, it draws the youth 
of the country. Things, they say, are doing, and they 
long to be a part of it all. There is no doubt that the 
mind and heart are motivated in this way. 

Conveniences in Cities. — In the city there are more 
conveniences than in the country. There are sidewalks 
and paved streets instead of muddy roads; there are 
private telephones, and the telegraph is at hand in 
time of need; there are street cars which afford com- 
fortable and rapid transportation. There are libraries, 
museums, and art galleries; there are free lectures and 
entertainments of various kinds; and the churches are 
larger and more attractive than those in the country. 
As in the case of teachers, the cities secure their pick 
of preachers. Doctors are at hand in time of need, and 
all the professions are centered there. Is it any wonder 
that people, when they have an opportunity, migrate 
to the city? There is a social instinct moving the 
human heart. All people are gregarious. Adults as 
well as children like to be where others are, and so 
where some people congregate others tend to do like- 
wise. Country life as at present organized does not 
afford the best opportunity for the satisfaction of this 
social instinct. The great variety of social attractions 



22 THE URBAN TREND 

constitutes the lure of the city — it is the powerful 
social magnet. 

Urbanized Literature. — Books, magazines, and papers 
are all published in the cities, and most of them have 
the flavor of city life about them. They are made 
and written by people who know the city, and the city 
doings are usually the subject matter of the literary 
output of the day. Children acquire from these, even 
in their primary school days, a longing for the city. 
The idea of seeing and possibly of living in the city 
becomes "set," and it tends sooner or later to realize 
itself in act and in life. 

City Schools. — The city, as a rule, maintains excel- 
lent schools; and the most modern and serviceable 
buildings for school purposes are found there. Urban 
people seem willing to tax themselves to a greater ex- 
tent; and so in the cities will be found comparatively 
better buildings, better teachers, more and better 
supervision, more fullness of life in the schools. Usually 
in the cities the leading and most enterprising men and 
women are elected to the school board, and the people, 
as we have said, acquiesce in such taxation as the 
board deems necessary. The cities secure the best part 
of the whole output of the normal schools, compelling 
the rural districts to take what is left. Every city has a 
superintendent, and every building a principal; while, 
in the country, one county superintendent has to 
supervise a hundred or more schools, situated too, as 
they are, long distances apart. 



THE URBAN TREND 23 

City Churches. — Something similar may be said with 
respect to the churches. In every city there are several, 
and people can usually go to the church of their choice. 
In many parts of the country the church is decadent, 
and in some places it is becoming extinct. Even the 
automobile contributes its influence against the country 
church as a rural institution, and in favor of the city; 
for people who are sufficiently well-to-do often hke 
to take an automobile ride to the city on Sunday. 

City Work Preferred. — Workingmen and servant 
girls also prefer the city. They dislike the long irregular 
hours of the country; they prefer to work where the 
hours are regular, where they do not come into such 
close touch with the soil, and where they do not have 
to battle with the elements. In the city they work 
under shelter and in accordance with definite regula- 
tions. Hence it is that the problem of securing working- 
men and servant girls in the country is every day be- 
coming more and more perplexing. 

Retired Farmers. — Farmers themselves, when they 
have become reasonably well-to-do, frequently retire 
to the city, either to enjoy life the rest of their days or 
to educate their children. Individuals are not to be 
blamed. The lack of equivalent attractions and con- 
veniences in the country is responsible. 

Educational Centers. — As yet, it is seldom that good 
high schools are found in the country. To secure 
a high school education country people frequently 
have to avail themselves of the city schools. Many 



24 THE URBAN TREND 

colleges and universities are located in the cities and, 
consequently, much of the educational trend is in that 
direction. 

Face the Problem. — The rural problem is a difficult 
one and we may as well face the situation honestly 
and earnestly. There has been too much mere oratory 
on problems of rural life. We have often, ostrich-like, 
kept our heads under the sand and have not seen or 
admitted the real conditions, which must be changed 
if rural life is to become attractive. Say what we will, 
people will go where their needs are best satisfied and 
where the attractions are greatest. People cannot be 
driven — they must be attracted and won. If "God 
made the country and man made the town, " God's peo- 
ple must be neglecting to give God's country "such a 
face and such a mien as to be loved needs only to be 
seen." Where the element of nature is largest there 
should be a more truly and deeply attractive life than 
where the element of art predominates, however al- 
luring that may be. How can country life and the 
country itself be made to attract? 

Educational Value Not Realized. — People generally 
have never been able to estimate education fairly. 
The value of lands, horses, and money can easily be 
measured, for these are tangible things; but education 
is very difficult of appraisal, for it is intangible. Yet 
it is true that intangible things are frequently of 
greater worth than are tangible things. There are 
men who pay more to a jockey to train their horses 



THE URBAN TREND 25 

than they are willing to pay to a teacher to train their 
children. This is because the services of the jockey 
are more easily reckoned. The effects or results of 
the horse training are measured by the proceeds in 
dollars and cents on the racetrack, and so are easily 
realized; while the growth in education, refinement, 
and culture on the part of the child is difficult indeed 
to measure or estimate. And yet how much more 
valuable it is! The jockey gives the one, the teacher 
the other. 

Wrong Standard in the Social Mind. — There is 
established in the public mind of rural communities 
the idea that a teacher is worth about fifty dollars a 
month — frequently not so much. This idea has spread 
until it is almost universally prevalent; it has become 
"set" or "fixed," so that if a teacher is being paid 
seventy-five dollars a month the people are inclined 
to think that she is overpaid and that the school board 
is extravagant. The rural school problem will never 
be solved until this standard is changed and raised. 
There are men in the United States who are receiving, 
for the performance of some socially useless thing, larger 
salaries than are paid to many university professors 
and presidents in the country. The situation is mis- 
conceived, relative values are misjudged, often in- 
verted or reversed. Until there is a saner perspective 
in the public mind and until values are reestimated, 
the solution of the rural school problem and indeed 
of many of the problems of rural life is well-nigh 



26 THE URBAN TREND 

hopeless. Before a solution is effected some sufficient 
inducement must be held out to strong persons to 
come into the rural life and into the rural schools. 
These persons would and could be leaders of strength 
among the people. 

Rural Organization. — At present there is little or 
no organization of rural life. Communities are chaotic, 
socially, economically, and educationally. Real leaders 
are necessary. These must be men and women of 
strong and winning personality. The rural teacher, 
if he be a man of power and initiative, can be a real 
savior and redeemer of rural life in his community. 
But leaders of this type cannot be secured without a 
reasonable incentive. Such men will seldom sacrifice 
themselves for the organization and uplift of a com- 
munity except for proper compensation. If teachers 
— or at least the strong ones — were paid two or three 
times as much as they are to-day, and if the standards 
were raised accordingly, so as to secure really strong 
personalities as teachers, country life might be organ- 
ized in different directions and made so much more 
attractive than at present, that the urban trend would 
be arrested or greatly minimized. 

Playing with the Problem. — The possibilities of the 
organization of rural life and rural schools have not 
yet been realized; as a people we have really played 
with this problem. It has taken care of itself; it 
has been allowed to drift. Rural life at present is a 
kind of easy social adjustment on the basis of the mini- 



THE URBAK TREND 27 

mum of expense and of exertion toward a solution. We 
have not realized the value of genuine social, economic, 
and educational organization with all the activities in 
these lines which the terms imply. We have not 
grappled with the problem in an earnest, scientific 
way; we have never thought out systematically what 
is needed, and then decided to employ the necessary 
means to bring about the desired end. It may be 
that the problem will remain unsolved for generations 
to come; but if country life and country schools are 
to be made as attractive and pleasant as city life and 
city schools, the people will have to face the problem 
without flinching and use the only means which 
will bring about the desired result. The prob- 
lem could be easily solved if the people realized the 
true value of rural life and of good rural schools. 
Where there is a will there is a way; but where there 
is no will there is no possible way. Country life can 
be made fully as pleasant as city life, and the rural 
schools can be made fully as good as the city schools. 
Of course some things will be lacking in the country 
which are found in the city; but, conversely, many 
things and probably better things will be found in the 
country than could be found in the city. 



CHAPTER III 
THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 

This chapter will have reference to the one-room 
rural school as it has existed in the past and as it 
still exists in many places; it will also discuss the 
rural school as it ought to be. It is assumed that, 
although consolidation is spreading rapidly, the one- 
room rural school as an institution will continue to 
exist for an indefinite time. Under favorable condi- 
tions it probably should continue to exist; for, as we 
shall see, it has many excellent features which are real 
advantages. 

The Building. — The old-fashioned country school- 
house was in many respects a pitiable object. The 
"little red schoolhouse" in story and song has been the 
object of much praise. As an ideal creation it may be 
deserving of admiration, but this cannot be asserted 
of it as a reality. The common type was an ordinary 
box-shaped building without architecture, without a 
plan, and, as a rule, without care or repair. Frequently 
it stood for years without being repainted, and in the 
midst of chaotic and ill-cared-for surroundings. The 
contract for building it was usually awarded to some 
carpenter who was also given carte blanche to do as he 

28 



THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 29 

pleased in regard to its construction, the only pro- 
vision being that he keep within the amount of money 
allowed — probably eight hundred or a thousand dol- 
lars. The usual result was the plainest kind of build- 
ing, without conveniences of any kind. If a blackboard 
were provided in the specifications (which were often 
oral rather than written), it was perhaps placed in 
such a position as to be useless. In the course of my 
experience as county superintendent of schools, I once 
visited a rural school in which the blackboard began 
at the height of a man's head and extended to the 
ceiling, the carpenter probably thinking that its one 
purpose was to display permanently the teacher's 
program. 

No System of Ventilation. — No system of ventila- 
tion was provided in former days, and in some school- 
houses such is the condition to-day. Nevertheless, 
thanks to enterprising salesmen, there has been much 
improvement in this direction. It used to be neces- 
sary to secure fresh air, if at all, by opening windows. 
In some sections, where the climate is mild, this is 
the best method of ventilation; but certainly, in north- 
ern latitudes where the winters are long and cold, some 
system of forced or automatic ventilation should be 
provided. It may not be amiss to assert that it would 
be an excellent plan to decide first upon a good sys- 
tem of ventilation and then to build the schoolhouse 
around it. Without involving great expense there are 
simple systems of ventilation and heating combined 



30 THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 

which are very efficient for such houses. In former 
times, and in some places even yet, the usual method of 
heating was by an un jacketed stove which made the 
pupils who sat nearest it uncomfortably warm, while 
those in the farther corners were shivering with cold. 
With new systems of ventilation there is an insulating 
jacket which equalizes the temperature of the room 
by distributing the heat and fresh air quite evenly. 

It is strange how slowly people change their habits 
and even their opinions. Many are ignorant of the fact 
that in an unventilated room each child is breathing 
over and over again an atmosphere vitiated by the 
breaths exhaled from the lungs of thirty or forty 
others. It can be truthfully asserted that to condi- 
tions of this kind the prevalence of much of the sick- 
ness and disease among children is due. Whatever 
it is that makes air "fresh," and healthful, that factor 
is not found under the conditions described. Changes 
in the temperature and movement of the air are, no 
doubt, important in securing a healthful physiological 
reaction, but air contaminated and befouled by bodies 
and lungs has stupefying effects which cannot be 
ignored. Frequent change of air is essential. 

The Surroundings. — The typical country school- 
house, as it existed in the past, and as it frequently 
exists to-day, has not sufficient land to form a good 
yard and a playground appropriate for its needs. 
The farmer who sold or donated the small tract of 
land often plows almost to the very foundation walls. 



THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 31 

There are usually no trees near by to afford shelter 
or to give the place a homelike and attractive ap- 
pearance. Some trees may have been planted, but 
owing to neglect they have all died out, and nothing 
remains but a few dead and unsightly trunks. There 
is usually no fence around the school yard, and the 
outbuildings are frequently a disgrace, if not a positive 
menace to the children's morals. If a choice had to 
be made it would be better to allow children to grow 
up in their native liberty and wildness without a 
school "education" than to have them subjected 
to mental and moral degradation by the vicious sug- 
gestions received in some of these places. Weak 
teachers have a false modesty in regard to such con- 
ditions and school boards are often thoughtless or 
negligent. 

The Interior. — Within the building there is fre- 
quently no adequate equipment in the way of apparatus, 
supplementary reading, or reference books of any kind. 
There are no decorations on the walls except such as 
are put there by mischievous children. The whole 
situation both inside and out brings upon one a feeling 
of desolation. Men and women who hve in reasonably 
comfortable homes near by allow the school home of 
their precious children to remain for years unattractive 
and uninspiring in every particular. Again this is the 
result of ignorance, thoughtlessness, or negligence — a 
negligence that comes alarmingly close to guilt. 

Small, Dead School. — In many a lone rural school- 



32 THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 

house may be found ten to twenty small children; 
and behind the desk a teacher holding only a second 
or third grade elementary or county certificate. The 
whole institution is rather tame and weak, if not 
dead; it is anything but stimulating (and if edu- 
cation means anything it means stimulation). It is 
this kind of situation which has led in recent years 
to a discussion of the rural school as one of the prob- 
lems most urgently demanding the attention of 
society. 

That Picture and This. — Let us now consider, 
after looking upon that picture, what the situation 
ought to be. In the first place, there should be a 
large school ground, or yard — not less than two acres. 
The schoolhouse should be properly located in this 
tract. The ground as a whole should be platted by a 
landscape architect, or at least by a person of experi- 
ence and taste. Trees of various kinds should be 
planted in appropriate places, and groups of shrubbery 
should help to form an attractive setting. The 
school grounds should have a serviceable fence and 
gate and there should be a playground and a school 
garden. 

Architecture of Building. — No school building should 
be erected that has not first been planned or passed 
upon by an architect; this is now required by law in 
some states. A building with handsome appearance 
and with appropriate appointments is but a trifle, if 
any, more costly than one that has none. Art of all 



THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 33 

kinds is a valuable factor in the education of children 
and of people generally; and a building, beautiful in 
construction, is no exception to the rule. Every person 
is educated by what impresses him. It is only within 
the last few years that much attention has been given 
to the necessity of special architecture in school - 
houses. 

Men of intelligence sometimes draw up their own 
plans for a building and then, having become enamored 
of them, proceed to construct a residence or a school- 
house along those lines. If they had shown their 
plans to an architect of experience he would probably 
have pointed out numerous defects which would have 
been admitted as soon as observed. Neither the in- 
dividual nor the district school boards can afford, in 
justice to themselves and the community they repre- 
sent, to ignore the wide and varied knowledge of the 
expert. 

Get Expert Opinion. — Expert opinion should govern 
in the matter of heating and ventilating, in the kind 
of seating, in the arrangement of blackboards, in the 
decorations, and in all such technical and professional 
matters. Every rural school should have a carefully 
selected library, suited to its needs, including a suffi- 
cient number of reference books. Such a school should 
provide free textbooks so that no time may be wasted 
in getting started after the opening of school. The 
walls should be adorned with a few appropriate and 
beautiful pictures. 

Rural Life — .^ 



34 THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 

Other Surroundings. — On this school ground there 
should be a shop of some kind. The resourceful teacher 
would find a hundred uses for some such center of 
work. The closets should be so placed and so devised 
as to be easily supervised. This would prevent them 
from being moral plague spots, as is too often the 
case, as we have already said. There should be stables 
for sheltering horses, if the school is, as it should be, a 
social center for the community. There should be a 
flagpole in front of the schoolhouse, from the top of 
which the stars and stripes should be often unfurled 
to the breeze. 

Number of Pupils. — In this architecturally attractive 
building, amid beautiful surroundings both inside and 
out, there should be, in order to have a good rural 
school, not less than eighteen or twenty pupils. Where 
there are fewer the school should be consolidated with 
a neighboring school. Twenty pupils would give an 
assurance of educational and social life, instead of the 
dead monotony which inevitably prevails in the smaller 
rural school. There should be, during the year, at 
least eight, and preferably nine, months of school work. 

It Will Not Teach Alone. — But with all of these 
conditions the school may still be far from effective. 
All the material equipment — the total environment of 
the pupils, both inside and outside the building — may 
be excellent, and still we may fail to find there a good 
school. Garfield said of his old teacher that Mark 
Hopkins on one end of a log and a pupil on the other 



THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 35 

made the best kind of college. This indicates an essen- 
tial factor other than the physical equipment. 

I remember being once in a store when a man who 
had bought a saw a few days previously returned it in 
a wrathful mood. He was angry through and through 
and declared that the saw was utterly worthless. He 
had brought it back to reclaim his money. The mer- 
chant had a rich vein of humor in his nature and he 
listened smihngly to the outburst of angry language. 
Then he merely took the saw, opened his till and 
handed the man his money, quietly asking, with a 
twinkle in his eyes for those standing around, "Wouldn't 
it saw alone?" 

Now, we may have a fine school ground, or site, 
with a variety of beautiful trees and clumps of shrub- 
bery; we may have a playground and a school garden; 
we may have it all splendidly fenced; the schoolhouse 
may have an artistic appearance and may be kept 
in excellent repair; it may be well furnished inside 
with blackboards, seats, library, reference books, free 
textbooks, and all else that is needed; it may be beau- 
tifully decorated; it may have twenty or even more 
pupils, and yet we may not have a good school. It 
will not ''saw alone"; the one indispensable factor may 
still be lacking. 

The Teacher. — "As is the teacher, so is the school." 
Mark Hopkins on the end of a log made a good col- 
lege, compared with the situation where the building 
is good and the teacher poor. The teacher is like the 



36 THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 

mainspring in a watch. Without a good teacher 
there can be no good school. Live teacher, Kve school ; 
dead teacher, dead school. The teacher and the school 
must be the center of life, of thought, and of conver- 
sation, in a good way, in the neighborhood. The teacher 
is the soul of the school; the other things constitute 
its body. What shall it profit a community to gain 
a great building and lack a good teacher? 

If we were obliged to choose between a good teacher 
and poor material conditions and en\'ironment on the 
one hand, and excellent material conditions and en- 
vironment and a poor teacher on the other, we should 
certainly not hesitate in our choice. 

A Good Rural School. — Now, if we suppose a really 
good teacher under the good conditions described 
above, we shall have a good rural school. There is 
usually better individual work done in such a school 
than is possible in a large system of graded schools 
in a city. In such a school there is more single-minded- 
ness on the part of pupils and teacher. These pupils 
bring to such a school unspoiled minds, minds not 
weakened by the attractions and distractions, both 
day and night, of city life. In such a school the es- 
sentials of a good education are, as a rule, more often 
emphasized than in the city. There is probably a 
truer perspective of values. Things of the first mag- 
nitude are distinguished from things of the second, 
fifth, or tenth magnitude. This inability to distin- 
guish magnitudes is one of the banes of common school 



THE REAL AND THE IDEAL SCHOOL 37 

education ever}'where — so many things are appraised 
at the same value. 

The Problem. — We have tried in this discussion to 
put before the reader a fairly accurate picture, on the 
one hand, of the undesirable conditions which have 
too often prevailed, and, on the other, of a rural school 
which would be an excellent place in which to receive 
one's elementary education. The reader is asked to 
"look upon that picture and then upon this." The 
transition from the one to the other is one of the 
great problems of rural Hfe and of the rural school. 
Consolidation of schools, which we shall discuss more 
at length in a later chapter, will help to solve the prob- 
lem of the rural school, and we give it our hearty in- 
dorsement. It is the best plan we know of where the 
conditions are favorable; but it is probable that the 
one-room rural school will remain with us for a long 
time to come. Indeed there are some good reasons 
why it should remain. Where the good rural school 
exists, whether non-consolidated or consohdated, it 
should be the center and the soul of rural life in that 
community — social, economical, and educational. 



CHAPTER IV 
SOME LINES OF PROGRESS 

Progress. — The period covering the last sixty or 
seventy-five years has seen greater progress in all 
material lines than any other equal period of the world's 
history. Indeed, it is doubtful if a similar period of 
invention and progress will ever recur. It has been one 
of industrial revolution in all lines of acti\dty. 

In Reaping Machines. — Let us for a few moments 
trace this development and progress in some specific 
fields. Within the memory of many men now living 
the hand sickle was in common use in the cutting of 
grain. In the fifties and sixties the cradle was the 
usual implement for harvesting wheat, oats, and sim- 
ilar grains. One man did the cradling and another 
the gathering and the binding into sheaves. Then 
came rapid development of the reaping machine. 

The "Dropper." — The most important step was 
probably the invention of the sickle-bar, a slender 
steel bar having V-shaped sections attached, to cut 
the grass and grain; this was pushed and pulled be- 
tween what are called guards, by means of a rod called 
the "Pitman rod," attached to a small revolving wheel 
run by the gearing of the machine. This was a won- 

38 



SOME LINES OF PROGRESS 39 

derful invention and its principle has been extensively 
applied. The first reaping machine using the sickle 
and guard device was known as the "dropper." A reel, 
worked by machinery, revolved at a short distance 
above the sickle, beating the wheat backward upon a 
small platform of slats. This platform could be raised 
and lowered by the foot, by means of a treadle. When 
there was sufficient grain on this slat-platform it was 
lowered and the wheat was left lying in short rows on 
the ground, behind the machine. The bundles had to 
be bound by hand and removed before the machine 
could make the next round. This machine, though 
simple, was the forerunner of other important inven- 
tions. 

The Hand Rake. — The next type of machine was 
the one in which the platform of slats was replaced 
by a stationary platform having a smooth board floor. 
A man sat at the side of the machine, near the rear, 
and raked the bundles off sidewise with a hand rake. 
A boy drove the team and the man raked off the grain 
in sufficient quantities to make bundles. These were 
thrown by the rake a sufficient distance from the 
standing grain to allow the machine to proceed round 
and round the field, even if these bundles of grain, 
so raked off, were not yet bound into sheaves. 

The Self Rake. — The next advance consisted in what 
is kno^vn as the "self rake." This machine had a 
series of slats or wings which did both the work of 
the reel in the earlier machine and also that of the 



40 SOME LINES 01- PROGRESS 

man who raked the wheat off the later machine. This 
saved the labor of one man. 

The Harvester. — The next improvement in the evo- 
lution of the reaping machine — if indeed an improve- 
ment it could be called — was what is known as the 
"harvester." In this there was a canvas elevator 
upon which the grain was thro^vn by the reel, and which 
brought the grain up to the platform on which two 
men stood for the purpose of binding it. Each man 
took his share, binding alternate bundles and throwing 
them, when bound, down on the ground. Such work 
was certainly one of the repellent factors in driving 
men and boys from the country to the city. 

The Wire Binder. — Another step in advance was 
the invention of the wire binder. Everything was now 
done by machinery: the cutting, the elevating, the 
binding, and even the carrying of the sheaves into 
piles or windrows. There was an attachment upon 
the machine by which the bundles were carried along 
and deposited in bunches to make the "shocking" 
easier. 

The Twine Binder. — But the wire was found to be 
an obstruction both in threshing and in the use of 
straw for fodder; and, as necessity is the mother of in- 
vention, the so-called twine "knotter" soon came into 
existence and with it the full-fledged twine binder with 
all its varied improvements as we have it to-day. 

Threshing Machine. — The development of the per- 
fected threshing machine was very similar. Fifty years 



SOME LINES OF PROGRESS 41 

ago, the flail was an implement of common use upon 
the barn floor. Then came the invention called the 
"cylinder"; this was systematically studded with 
"teeth" and these, in the rapid revolutions of the 
cylinder, passed between corresponding teeth system- 
atically set in what is known as "concaves." This 
tooth arrangement in revolving cylinder and in con- 
cave was as epochal in the line of progress in threshing 
machines as the sickle, with its "sections" passing or 
being drawn through guards, was in reaping machines. 

The First Machine. — The earliest of these threshing 
machines containing a cyhnder was run by a treadmill 
on which a horse was used. It was literally a "one- 
horse" affair. Of course the first t}^e of cylinder was 
small and simple, and the work as a rule was poorly 
done. The chaff and the straw came out together 
and men had to attend to each by hand. The wheat 
was poorly cleaned and had to be run through a fan- 
ning-mill several times. 

Improvements. — Then came some improvements 
and enlargements in the cylinder, and also the appli- 
cation of horse power by means of what was known 
as "tumbling rods" and a gearing attached to the 
cylinder. Ml this at first was on rather a small scale, 
only two, three, or four horses being used. But im- 
provements and enlargements came step by step, until 
the ten and twelve horse power machine was achieved, 
resulting in the large separator that would thresh 
out several hundred bushels of wheat in a day. The 



42 SOME LINES OF PROGRESS 

separator had also attached to it what was called the 
"straw carrier," which conveyed both the straw and 
the chaff to quite a distance from the machine. But 
even then most of the work around the machine was 
done by hand. The straw pile required the attention 
of three or four men; or if the straw were "bucked," 
as they said, it required a man with a horse or team 
hitched to a long pole. In this latter case the straw 
was spread in various parts of the field and finally 
burned. 

The Steam Engine. — Then came the portable steam 
engine for threshing purposes. At first, however, this 
had to be drawn from place to place by teams. The 
power was applied to the separator by a long belt. 
Following this, came the devices for cutting the bands, 
the self-feeder, and finally the straw blower, as it is 
called, consisting of a long tube through which the 
straw is blown by the powerful separator fanning-mill. 
This blower can be moved in different directions, and 
consequently it saves the labor of as many men as 
were formerly required to handle the straw and chaff. 
About the same time, also, the device for weighing and 
measuring the grain was perfected. The "traction" 
engine has now replaced the one which had to be drawn 
by teams, and this not only propels itself but also 
draws the separator and other loads after it from place 
to place. In all this progress the machinery has con- 
stantly become more and more perfect and the cylin- 
der and capacity of the machine greater and greater. 



SOME LINES OF PROGRESS 43 

Not many years ago, six hundred bushels in a day 
was considered a big record in the threshing of wheat. 
Now the large machines separate, or thresh out, be- 
tween three and four thousand bushels in one day. 
Such has been the development in reaping machines 
from the sickle to the self-binder, and in threshing 
machines from the flail to the modern marvel just de- 
scribed. 

Improvement in Ocean Travel. — A similar story may 
be told in regard to ocean traffic and ocean travel. 
Our ancestors came from foreign lands on sailing ships 
that required from three weeks to several months to 
cross the Atlantic. I am acquainted with a German 
immigrant who, many years ago, left a seaport town 
of Germany on January ist and landed at Castle 
Garden in New York City on the 4th of July. The 
inconvenience of travel under such circumstances was 
equal to the slowness of the journey. In those days 
leaving home in the old country meant never again 
seeing one's relatives and friends. If such conditions 
are compared with those of to-day we can readily 
realize the vast progress that has been made. To-day 
the great ocean liners cross the Atlantic in a little 
more than five days. These magnificent "ocean grey- 
hounds" are fitted out with all modern conveniences 
and improvements, so that one is as comfortable in 
them and as safe as he is in one of the best hotels 
of the large cities. 

From Hand-spinning to Factory. — Weaving in for- 



44 SOME LINES OF PROGRESS 

mer times was done entirely by hand. Fifty years 
ago private weavers were found in almost every com- 
munity. Wool was raised, carded, spun, and woven, 
and the garments were all made, practically, within 
the household. All that is now past. In the great 
manufacturing establishments one man at a lever does 
the work of 250 or 500 people. This great industrial 
advancement has taken place within the memory of 
people now living. And similar progress has been 
made in almost every other line of human endeavor. 

The Cost. — Very few people realize what it has 
cost the human race to pass from one condition to the 
other in these various lines. Hundreds and thousands 
of men have worked and died in the struggle and in 
the process of bringing about improvements. Every 
calamity due to inadequate machines or to poor 
methods has had its influence toward causing further 
advancements in inventions for the benefit of mankind. 

Progress in Higher Education. — Let us now turn 
our attention to the progress that has been made in 
the field of academic education. It is true that many 
of the great universities were established centuries 
ago. These were at first endowed church institutions 
or theological seminaries; but the great state uni- 
versities of this country are creations of the progres- 
sive period under consideration. General taxation 
for higher education is comparatively a modern prac- 
tice. The University of Michigan was one of the 
first state universities established. Since then nearly 



SOME LINES OF PROGRESS 45 

every commonwealth, whether it has come into 
the Union since that time or whether it is one of the 
older states, has established a university. There has 
been a great flowering out of higher education by the 
states. No institutions of the country have grown 
more rapidly within the last thirty or forty years than 
the state universities. They have established depart- 
ments of every kind. Besides the college of liberal 
arts there are in most of them colleges or schools of 
law, medicine, engineering in its several lines, educa- 
tion, pharmacy, dentistry, commerce, industrial arts, 
and fine arts. The state university is abroad in the 
land; it has, as a rule, an extension department by 
which it impresses itself upon the people of the state, 
outside its walls. The principle of higher education by 
taxation of all the people is no longer questioned; it is 
no longer an experiment. The state university is 
relied upon to furnish the country with the leaders of 
the future — and leaders will always be in demand, for 
they are always sorely needed. 

Progress in Normal Schools. — While the state uni- 
versities have been enjoying tliis marvelous devel- 
opment, nearly every state has been establishing 
normal schools for the professional preparation of 
teachers. The normal school as an institution is also 
modern. As an institution established and supported 
by state taxation it is, as a rule, more recent than the 
universities. Forty years ago many good people re- 
garded the normal school idea as visionary and its reali- 



46 SOME LINES OF PROGRESS 

zation as a doubtful experiment. Indeed in one western 
state, as late as the eighties, its legislature debated the 
abolition of its normal schools on the ground that they 
were not fulfilling or accompHshing any useful mission. 
To-day, however, no such charge of inefficiency can be 
made. The normal schools, like the universities, have 
proved their right to exist. They have been weighed in 
the balance and have not been found wanting. It is 
now generally recognized that those who would teach 
should make some preparation for that high calling; 
and so the normal schools in every state have demon- 
strated their "right of domicile" in the educational 
system. It is now generally recognized that teaching, 
both as a science and as an art, is highly complicated, 
and that, if it is to be a profession, there must be 
special preparation for it. Consequently the normal 
schools of the country have had a wonderful and rapid 
development from the experimental stage to that in 
which they have well-nigh realized their ideals. School 
boards everywhere look to the normal schools for their 
supply of elementary teachers. 

Progress in Agricultural Colleges. — Similar state- 
ments may be made concerning the agricultural 
colleges of the country. They are modern creations in 
the United States; and with the aid of both the state 
and the national government they have come to be 
vast institutions, devoting themselves to the teaching 
and the spreading of scientific farming among the 
people. Here there is a vast work to be done. On 



SOME LINES OF PROGRESS '47 

account of the trend of population toward the cities, 
and on account of the vast tracts of country land lying 
idle, scientific agriculture should be brought in to aid 
in production and thus to keep down the cost of living. 
The agricultural colleges of the country have a large 
part to play in the solution of the problems of rural life. 
Progress in the High Schools. — A similar development 
characterizes the high schools of the country. Educa- 
tion has extended dowTiward from above. Universi- 
ties everywhere have come into existence before the 
establishment of secondary schools. Not only are the 
universities, the normal schools, and the agricultural 
colleges of recent origin, but the high schools also are 
modern institutions, at least in their present sys- 
tematized form. The high schools of the cities con- 
stitute to-day one of the most efiicient forms of school 
organization. At the present time the better high 
schools of the cities are veritable colleges — in fact their 
curricula are as extensive as were those of the colleges 
of sixty years ago. Vast numbers attend them; their 
faculties are composed of college graduates or better; 
they have, as a rule, various departments, such as 
manual training, domestic science, agriculture, com- 
mercial subjects, normal courses, etc. In addition 
to the traditional curricula, the high schools, like the 
universities, normal schools, and agricultural colleges, 
have kept pace, in large measure, with the material 
progress described in the first part of this chapter. 
How Is the Rural School? — We have described the 



48 SOME LINES OF PROGRESS 

progress that has been made in various fields of the in- 
dustrial world and also in several kinds of educational 
institutions. At this point the question may, with 
propriety, be asked whether the rural school has kept 
pace in its progress with the other and higher insti- 
tutions which we have mentioned. We believe that 
it has not. The rural school is the last to which public 
attention has been directed; it cannot show any such 
progress as has been indicated in other directions. 




A neglected school in unattractive surroundings 




A lonely road to school. A belter type of building with 

No conveyances provided some attempt at improvements 



THE ONE-ROOM SCHOOL 



CHAPTER V 
A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 

Rural Schools the Same Everywhere. — The one- 
room country school of to-day is much the same the 
whole country over. Such schools are no better in 
Michigan, Wisconsin, or Minnesota than they are in 
the Dakotas, Montana, or Idaho. They are no better 
in Ohio or New York than they are in Minnesota or 
Wisconsin, and no better in the New England states 
than in New York and Ohio. There is a wonderful 
similarity in these schools in all the states. 

Nevertheless, it may be maintained with some plausi- 
bility that the rural schools of the West are superior 
to those farther east. The East is more conservative 
and slow to change. The West has fewer traditions to 
break. Many strong personalities of initiative and 
push have come out of the East and taken up their 
abode in the West. Young men continue to follow 
Horace Greeley's advice. Sometimes these young 
men file upon lands and teach the neighboring 
school; and while this may not be the highest profes- 
sional aim and attitude, it remains true nevertheless 
that such teachers are often earnest, strong, and 
educated persons. 

Rural Life — 4 40 



50 A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 

Not long ago I had occasion to visit a teacher's 
institute in a northwestern state, in which there were 
enrolled 350 teachers. Some of these were college 
graduates and many of them were normal school 
graduates from various states. One had only to con- 
duct a round table in order to experience a very 
spirited reaction. Colonel Homer B. Sprague, who was 
once president of the University of North Dakota, 
used to say that it always wrenched him to kick at 
nothing. There would be no danger, in such a body 
of teachers as I have referred to, of wrenching one- 
self. I have had occasion many times every year to 
meet these western teachers in local associations, in 
teachers' institutes, and in state conventions; and from 
my observations and experience I can truthfully state 
that they are fully as responsive and as progressive as 
the teachers in other parts of the country. 

Rural Schools no Better than Formerly. — Notwith- 
standing all this, it is probably true that the rural 
schools of to-day are, on the whole, no better than 
those of twenty years ago. About that time I served 
four years as county superintendent of schools in a 
western state. As I recall the condition of the schools 
of that day I can see that there has been but Httle if 
any progress. Indeed, for reasons which will be stated 
later on, it can be safely asserted that there has been 
a deterioration. 

About thirty years ago I had the experience of 
teaching rural schools for several terms. Being ac- 



A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 5 1 

quainted with my coworkers, I met them frequently 
in teachers' gatherings and in conventions of various 
kinds. If my memory is to be trusted I can again 
affirm that the teachers of those days do not compare 
unfavorably with the rural school teachers of the 
present time. And if the teacher is the measure of the 
school, the same may be said of the schools. 

Nor is this all. About forty years ago I was attend- 
ing a rural school myself. I received all of my ele- 
mentary education in such schools and I am convinced 
that many of my teachers were stronger personalities 
than the teachers of to-day. 

Some Improvement. — It is not intended here to 
assert or to convey the impression that there has been 
no progress in any direction in the rural schools. It is 
the personnel of the country school — the strength and 
power of initiative in the teachers of that day — that 
is here referred to. Although there has been some 
progress in many lines it has not been in the direction 
of stronger teachers. The textbooks in use to-day in 
various branches are decidedly superior to those used 
in former days, although some of these older books 
were by no means without their points of strength 
and excellence. Indeed, I sometimes think that 
textbooks are often rendered less efficient by being 
refined upon in a variety of ways to conform to the 
popular pedagogical ideas of the day. 

It is no doubt true also that there has been, in the 
last thirty or forty years, much discussion along the 



52 A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 

lines of psychology and pedagogy and the methods of 
teaching the various branches. The professional spirit 
has been in the air, and there has been much writing and 
much talking on the science and art of teaching. But 
it must be confessed that, while this is desirable and 
in fact indispensable, much of it may be little more 
than a mere whitewash; much of it is simply parrot- 
like imitation; much of it is only "words, words, 
words." Far be it from me to underestimate the 
value of this professional and pedagogical phase 
of the teacher's equipment. Nevertheless, when all is 
said and duly considered, it is personality that is the 
greatest factor in the teacher. A good, sound knowl- 
edge of the subjects to be taught comes next; and last, 
though probably not least, should come the pro- 
fessional preparation and training. Without the first 
two requisites, however, this last is, as we said, nothing 
but whitewash. I am sorry to say that the personnel 
of the rural teachers everywhere in America, and also 
their academic education, have not been such as to 
afford an adequate foundation for professional training 
and study. 

Strong Personalities in the Older Schools. — As an 
example of strong personalities I remember one 
teacher who in middle life was recognized as a leader 
in his community; another one, after serving an appren- 
ticeship in the country schools, became a prominent 
and successful physician; a third became a leading 
architect; a fourth, a lawyer; a fifth went west and 



A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 53 

became county judge in the state of his adoption; 
a sixth entered West Point Mihtary Academy and 
rose rapidly in the United States army. These 
instances are given to show that many of the 
old-time country teachers were men of force and 
initiative. They became to their pupils ideals of man- 
hood worthy to be patterned after. These all taught 
in one neighborhood, but similar strong characters 
were no doubt engaged in the schools of surrounding 
neighborhoods. What rural school of to-day in any 
state can boast of the uplifting presence of so many 
men teaching in one decade? 
A. V. Storm, of the Iowa State College, says: 
"But we lack one thing nowadays that these old 
schools possessed. Twenty or thirty years ago the 
country schools were taught for the most part by men. 
Such men as Shaw and Dolliver, and a great many 
other leading men of to-day, were at one time country 
school teachers. They exercised a great influence upon 
the pupils. They were the angels who put the coals of 
fire upon the lips of the young men, giving them the 
ambition that made for future greatness. The country 
schools now are not so good as they were twenty years 
ago. The chief reason is that their teachers are not 
so capable." 

More Men Needed. — To secure the best results, 
there should be fully as many men as women teaching 
in the rural schools. One hundred years ago both city 
and country schools were taught by men alone. Now 



S4 



A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 



the rural schools and most of the city schools are taught 
by women alone. There is probably as much reason 
against all teachers being women as there is against 
all teachers being men. 

Low Standard Now. — Thirty or forty years ago about 
half of the teachers were men and half women, both 
sexes representing the strong and the weak. The 
schools of to-day are practically monopolized by young 
girls from eighteen to twenty years of age who have 
had little more, if any, than a common elementary 
education. Some have just finished the eighth grade 
and have had a smattering of pedagogy or what is 
sometimes called "the theory and practice of teach- 
ing." This they could have secured in a six weeks' 
summer school, while reviewing the so-called "common 
branches." These teachers are holders merely of a 
Second grade elementary, or county, certificate, which 
requires very little education. Almost any person 
who has taken the required course in reading, writing, 
spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, history, and 
hygiene of the elementary school can pass the usual 
examination and obtain a certificate to teach. In some 
states the matter is made still easier by the issuing 
of third grade county certificates, and even, in some 
cases, by the giving of special permits. Indeed, the 
standards are usually so low that the supply of teachers 
is far beyond the demand. 

The Survival of the Unfittest. — Such is the standard 
which prevails extensively throughout the country in 



A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 55 

respect to the qualifications of rural school teachers. 
As poor coins sometimes drive out the better in the 
money world, so poor teachers holding the lowest 
grade of certificate will often drive out the better, for 
they are ready to teach for "less than anybody else." 
The men and women of strength and initiative will go 
out of the calling into other lines of work where progress 
is more pronounced and where salaries or wages are 
higher ; and so the doors of the teachers' calling (I shall 
not call it a profession) swing outward. The good 
teachers desert us, or refuse to come, and the rural 
schools are left with what might be called the survival 
of the unfittest. 

Short Terms. — Add to the foregoing considerations 
the short terms of service which prevail in rural schools 
and we have indeed a pitiable condition. The average 
yearly duration of such schools in most states is about 
seven months — sometimes less. This leaves about 
five months of vacation, or of time between terms, 
when much that has been learned is forgotten. Under 
such conditions how is it possible to give the children 
of these communities an education which is at all 
comparable to that afforded by the city? 

Poor Supervision. — Then, again, there is little or no 
supervision of country schools. The county super- 
intendent has under his inspection from fifty to two 
hundred schools and it is utterly impossible for him to 
give to each the desired number of vdsits or to supervise 
and superintend the work of those schools in a manner 



56 A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 

that can be called adequate in any true sense. Some- 
times he can visit each school only once a year, or 
twice at most, and, even then, there may be two differ- 
ent teachers in the same school during the year; so 
that he sees each of his teachers at work probably only 
once. What can a supervising officer do for a school 
or for a teacher under such circumstances? Prac- 
tically nothing. The county superintendent is usually 
elected to office by the people and frequently on a 
partisan ticket; he must keep on the good side of 
teachers and will naturally curry favor with school 
officers in order to be reelected. So the super- 
vision or superintendency of country schools is often 
of small value indeed. Of course there are many 
exceptional cases, but the exceptions only prove the 
rule. 

No Decided Movement. — The whole movement of 
the rural school, whether it has been backward or 
forward, has been too frequently without definite or 
pronounced direction. It has moved along the line 
of least resistance, sometimes this way, sometimes that, 
in some places forward, in other places backward. 
Time, circumstances, and chance determine the work. 
School problems have been settled by convenience and 
circumstances. The whole situation has been one of 
laissez J aire. It is only within the past few years that 
people have become interested in the situation. They 
are beginning to be impressed with the progress that 
is being made in all other lines, not only outside of the 



A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 57 

schools but also in the fields of higher and secondary 
education. The rural school interests have at last 
begun to ask, "Where do we come in?" 

Elementary Teaching Not a Profession. — There has 
been as yet no real profession of teaching in the rural 
or elementary field. In about one third of the schools 
there is a new teacher every year; so that every three 
years the teaching force in any given county is prac- 
tically renewed. A profession cannot be acquired in a 
day, or even in twelve months. The work to be done 
is regarded as an important public work, and the public 
is concerned in its own protection. Hence in every 
true profession there is a somewhat lengthy period of 
preparation and a standard of acquirements which 
must be attained. In other words, a true profession 
is a closed calling which it is impossible for everyone 
to join, and which only those can enter who have 
passed through a severe preparation and have success- 
fully met the required standard. School teaching in 
the country is in no sense such a profession. It can be 
entered too easily; there is practically no period of 
preparation and the standard is placed so low that 
even those who run may enter. 

The Problem Difficult, but Before Us.— What shall 
be done? The problem is before the American people 
in every state of the Union. The people themselves 
have become aroused to the situation, and this itself 
is encouraging. Much has been done in some states, 
but much will be left undone for the attention of 



58 A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 

coming generations. The masses of the people can 
be aroused only wath difficulty. The education of an 
individual is a slow process. The education of a 
family, of a community, or of a state is slower still. 
The education of a nation or of a race is so slow that 
its progress is difficult of measurement. Indeed, the 
movement of the race as a whole is so imperceptible 
that it leaves room for debate as to whether humanity is 
going forward or backward. 

Other Educational Interests Should Help. — The 
higher institutions, including the state universities, the 
agricultural colleges, the normal schools, and the high 
schools, should all join hands in helping to remedy con- 
ditions. Society has already, in large measure, solved 
the problems in the higher educational fields; those 
institutions have been advanced to such an extent that 
they have almost realized their ideals. The rural 
population has helped them to attain to these high 
standards. As one good turn deserves another, rural 
communities now look to these interests for aid in the 
struggle to overcome the difficulties which confront 
them. 

Higher Standards Necessary. — But before the rural 
schools can ever hope to make the desired progress, 
higher standards must be set by society, and the teach- 
ers in those schools must attain to them. The United 
States, as a nation, is far behind foreign countries in 
setting such a standard. In Denmark and elsewhere 
a country school teacher must be a normal school 



A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 59 

graduate. A few national laws in the way of standard- 
ization both in higher and lower education would 
produce excellent results. The old fear of encroach- 
ment upon state's rights by the national government 
has too long prevented national legislation of a most 
beneficial kind in the educational field. 

Courses for Teachers. — In every normal school in 
the United States there should be an elementary 
course of study extending at least three years above 
the eighth grade, and the completion of this course 
should be required as a minimum preparation for 
teaching in any school in the country. This is cer- 
tainly not asking too much. Pupils who complete the 
eighth grade at fourteen or fifteen years, and then go to 
a normal school, would complete this elementary course 
at the age of seventeen or eighteen; and no person who 
has not reached this age should assume the responsi- 
bility for the care and instruction of children in any 
school. 

The Problem of Compensation. — Were such a stand- 
ard adopted as a minimum, salaries would immediately 
rise. (We do not often call them ''salaries" but wages, 
and probably with some discrimination.) If it is said 
that teachers of such quahfications cannot be secured, 
the answer is that in a short time things would so 
adjust themselves that the demand would bring the 
supply. Salaries in the country must be higher before 
we can hope to secure any considerable number of 
teachers as well equipped and with as strong per- 



6o A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 

sonalities as those found in the cities. It may be 
necessary for us to pay more than is paid in the 
city; for if a teacher has two offers at $65 a 
month, one from a city and one from the country, she 
will, without doubt, accept the city offer every time. 
True, she will have to pay more for room and board 
in the city; nevertheless she will prefer to be where 
there are the most opportunities and conveniences, 
with probably a better prospect for promotion. And 
who can blame her? It is probable that, in many 
instances, country districts will have to pay five or 
ten dollars a month more than the city if they wish to 
secure equally strong teachers. A country district can 
really afford to pay more than the city in order to get 
a good, strong teacher; for taxation in the country is 
usually lighter than it is in the city. In the city there 
is taxation for lighting, for paving, for sidewalks, for 
police protection, and for various other conveniences 
and necessities. The country is free from most of 
such levies, and it could, therefore, afford to pay a 
little more school tax in order to secure its share of 
the best teachers. 

Consolidation as a Factor. — In the solution of the 
school problem consolidation will do much. This is 
being tried in almost every state of the Union and is 
working in the direction of progress with great- satis- 
faction. We shall treat of this more at length in 
a later chapter. 

Better Supervision Necessary. — Not only must we 



A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 6l 

have better teachers in the country, but we must have 
more and better supervision. There is no vaUd reason 
why country superintendents should be elected on a 
political platform. It is the custom everywhere to 
choose city superintendents from among the best men 
or women anywhere in the field, inside or outside of the 
state. Such should also be the practice in choosing 
county superintendents. Then, too, a county should 
be divided into districts and more assistance given 
the county superintendent in the supervision of schools. 
In other words, supervision should be persistent, con- 
sistent, and systematic; visits should be more frequent. 
In the city a superintendent or principal has all his 
schools and teachers either in one building or in several 
buildings at no great distance apart. In the latter 
case he can go from one to another in a few minutes, 
staying at each as long as he thinks necessary. Little 
time is lost in travel. This is one of the difficulties 
of rural supervision, and it must be overcome in some 
satisfactory way. 

A Model Rural School. — It would be a good plan 
for the state to establish in each county one model 
rural school. Such schools might be maintained wholly 
or in part by the state, and they would become models 
for all the neighboring districts. Children are always 
imitative, and people are only children of a larger 
growth. Most people learn to do things better by 
imitation; and so these model state schools would 
serve as patterns to be studied and copied by others. 



62 A BACKWARD AND NEGLECTED FIELD 

The Teacher Should Lead. — The school should be the 
mainspring of educational and social life in the com- 
munity; hence, only such teachers should be employed 
as are real originators of activity in rural schools and 
in rural life. The teacher should be a "live mre" 
and should be "doing things" all the time. He should 
be the leader of his community and his people. 

A Good Boarding Place.— A serious difficulty con- 
nected with teaching in the country is that of se- 
curing a good boarding place and temporary home. 
This may not be a troublesome problem in the older 
and well-established communities, but in the newer 
states and sparsely settled sections the condition is 
almost forbidding. Half the enjoyment of life consists 
in having a comfortable home and a good room to 
oneself. This is absolutely necessary in order to do 
one's work well, especially the work of the teacher. 
Some of the experiences which teachers have been 
obliged to go through are almost incredible. Almost 
every teacher of a country school could give vivid and 
pathetic illustrations and examples of the discomforts, 
the annoyances, and the trials to which a boarder in a 
strange family is subjected. The question of a board- 
ing place should be in the mind and plan of every 
school board when they employ a teacher for their 
district. It is they who should solve this problem for 
the teacher by having a good available home provided 
in advance. 



CHAPTER VI 
CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 

Much has been said and written in regard to what 
is generally known as the "consolidation of schools." 
Men and women interested in the cause of popular 
education have come to feel that the rural schools 
throughout the country are making little or no prog- 
ress, and public attention has therefore been turned 
to consolidation as one of the possible means of im- 
provement. 

The Process. — As the name implies, the process is 
simply the bringing together and the fusing of two or 
more schools into one. If two or more communities, 
each having a small school of a few children, con- 
clude that their schools are becoming ineffective 
and that it would be advantageous to unite, each 
may sell its own schoolhouse, and a new one may 
be built large enough for all and more centrally 
located with regard to the whole territory. They 
thus "consohdate" the schools of the several districts 
and estabhsh a single large one. In many portions of 
the country the rural schools have, from various 
causes, grown smaller and smaller, until they have 
ceased to be places of interest, of activity, and of 
life. Now, a school, if it means anything, means a 

63 



64 CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 

place where minds are stimulated and awakened as 
well as where knowledge is communicated. There can 
be but little stimulation in a school of only a few chil- 
dren. The pupils feel it and so does the teacher. Life, 
activity, mental aspiration are always found where 
large numbers of persons congregate. For these 
reasons the idea of consolidating the small schools 
into important centers, or units, is forcing itself upon 
the people of the country. Where the schools are small 
and the roads are good, ever>lhing favors the 
bringing of the children to a larger and more stimu- 
lating social and educational center. 

When Not Necessary. — It might happen, as it fre- 
quently does, that a school is already sufficiently large, 
active, and enthusiastic to make it inadvisable to give 
up its identity and become merged in the larger con- 
solidated school. If there are twenty or thirty chil- 
dren and an efficient teacher we have the essential 
factors of a good school. Furthermore, it is rather 
difficult to transport, for several miles, a larger num- 
ber than this. 

The District System. — There are two different kinds 
of country school organization. In some states, what is 
known as the district system is the prevailing one. This 
means that a school district, more or less irregular in 
shape and containing probably six to ten square miles, 
is organized into a corporation for school purposes. The 
schoolhouse is situated somewhere near the center of 
this district and is usually a small, boxlike affair, often 




A frame building and adequate conveyances 



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^^^M^£j^ ,..'' * *" 


^ 


^ljjllllll 


-i^J^JI 


iln^tt 


EL 


^^yJ^^^Km'' 




nm 


1 


mtk 




■^P! 


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A --illislaiilial ;iii(l will pl.iniird liuilding 



TWO rvpi:s of consolidatiid schools 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 65 

located in a desolate place without trees or other at- 
tractive environment. This school may be under the 
administration of a trustee or of a school board having 
the management of the school in every respect. This 
board determines the length of term; it hires and dis- 
misses teachers, procures supplies and performs all the 
functions authorized by law. It is a case where one 
school board has the entire management of one small 
school. 

The Township System. — The other form of organiza- 
tion is what is known as the township system. Here 
the several schools in one township are all under the 
administration of one school board. There is not a 
school board for each schoolhouse, as in the district 
system, but one school board has charge of all the 
schools of the township. Under certain conditions it has 
in its power the locating of schoolhouses within this 
general district. The board hires the teachers for all 
the schools within its jurisdiction, and in general man- 
ages all the schools in the same manner as the board 
in the district system manages its one school. 

Consolidation Difficult in District System. — The proc- 
ess of consolidation is always difficult where the dis- 
trict system prevails. Both custom and sentiment 
cause the people to hesitate or refuse to abandon their 
estabhshed form of organization. If a community 
has been incorporated for any purpose and has done 
business for some years, it is always difficult to induce 
the people to make a change. They feel as if they 

Rural Life — 5 



66 CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 

were abdicating government and responsibility. They 
hesitate to merge themselves in a larger organization, 
and hence they advance many objections to the con- 
solidation of their schools. All this is but natural. 
The several communities have been living apart 
educationally and have been in a measure strangers. 
They have never had any occasion to meet in con- 
ference, to exchange thought, and to do business to- 
gether; hence they fear and hesitate to take a leap 
in the dark, as they conceive it, and to embark upon 
a course which they think they may afterwards regret. 
Consolidation frequently fails because of false apprehen- 
sions due to a lack of social organization. 

Easier in Township System. — It is quite otherwise 
where the township system exists. Here there are no 
separate corporations or organizations controlling the 
various schools. The school board administers the 
affairs of all the schools in the township. Hence 
there is no sentiment in regard to the separate and 
distinct individuality of each school and its patronage. 
There are no sub-districts or distinctly organized com- 
munities; a whole township or two townships constitute 
one large district and the schools are located at the 
most convenient points to serve the children of the 
whole township. The people in such districts have 
been accustomed to act together educationally as well 
as politically, and to exchange thought on all such 
situations. Hence consolidation, or the union of the 
several schools, is a comparatively easy matter. 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 67 

Consolidation a Special Problem for Each District. — 
It will, of course, be seen at once that, in a school 
township where there are several small and somewhat 
lifeless schools with only a few children in each, it would 
be desirable for several reasons to bring together all 
the children into one large and animated center. 
This process is a specific local problem. Whether or 
not such consolidation is advisable depends upon many- 
conditions, among which are, (i) the size of the former 
schools, (2) the unanimity of sentiment in the com- 
munity, (3) the location of roads and of residences, 
(4) the distance the pupils are to be transported, and 
other local and special considerations. The people of 
each district should get together and discuss these 
problems from various points of view and decide for 
themselves whether or not they shall adopt the plan 
and also the extent to which it shall be carried. Much 
will depend upon the size of the schools and everything 
upon the unanimity of sentiment in the community. 
If there is a large minority against consolidation the 
wisdom of forcing it by a small majority is to be ques- 
tioned. It would be better to let the idea "work" a 
while longer. 

Disagreements on Transportation. — The problem of 
transporting pupils is always a puzzling one. Many 
details are involved in its solution and it is upon details 
that communities usually disagree. Most enterprises 
are wrecked by disagreements over small matters. 
Even among friends it is the small details in manner- 



68 CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 

isms or conduct that become with time so irri- 
tating that friendship is often strained. Details are 
usually small, but their obtrusive, perpetual presence 
is likely to disturb one's nerves. This is true in de- 
liberative bodies of all kinds. Important measures 
are often delayed or killed because their advocates and 
opponents cannot ''give and take" upon small points. 
Almost every great measure passing successfully 
through legislative bodies and, in fact, the settlement 
of many social problems embody a compromise on 
details. Many good people forget that, while there 
should be unanimity in essentials, there should be 
liberty in non-essentials, and charity in all things. 
Many people lack the power of perspective in the dis- 
cussion and solution of problems; for them all facts are 
of the same magnitude. Large things which they do 
not wish are minimized and small things are magnified. 
A copper cent may be held so near the eye that it 
will obscure the sun. Probably there has been no 
difficulty greater in the process of consolidation than 
the problems involved in the details concerning the 
transportation of pupils. 

Each Community Must Decide for Itself. — The par- 
ticular mode of transportation must be determined by 
the conditions existing in each community. In some 
places the consolidated school district provides one or 
more busses, or, as they are sometimes called, "vans"; 
and these go to the homes of the children each morning 
in time to arrive at the schoolhouse before nine o'clock. 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 69 

Of course, in this case the pupils Hving farthest from 
the school must rise and be ready earliest; they are on 
the road for the greatest length of time. But this is 
one of the minor discomforts which must be borne by 
those families and their children. All cannot live 
near the school. Sometimes a different plan of trans- 
portation is found to give better satisfaction. The 
parents may prefer to bring their own children to 
school or to make definite arrangements with nearby 
neighbors who bring theirs. There is no one way which 
is the only way, and, in fact, several methods may be 
used in the same district. 

The Distance to Be Transported. — If pupils must be 
transported over five or sLx miles, consolidation be- 
comes a doubtful experiment. Of course, the vehicles 
used should be comfortable and every care should be 
taken of the children; but six miles over country 
roads and in all kinds of weather means, probably, 
an hour and a quarter on the road both morning and 
evening. It could, of course, be said in reply that six 
miles in a comfortable wagon and an hour and a 
quarter on the road are not nearly so bad as a 
mile and a quarter on foot at certain seasons of the 
year. 

Responsible Driver. — Another point upon which all 
parents should insist is that the transportation of 
their children should be performed by reliable and re- 
sponsible drivers. This is important and most neces- 
sary. Under such conditions there would be no danger 



70 CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 

of children being drenched with rain in summer and 
exposed to cold in winter, for the vehicles would be so 
constructed as to offer protection against both. There 
would also be no danger of the large boys bullying and 
browbeating the smaller children on the way, as is 
often done when they walk to school over long and 
lonely roads; for all would be under the care of a trust- 
worthy driver until they were landed at the door of 
the schoolhouse or the home. 

Cost of Consolidation. — The cost of consolidation is 
always an important consideration. Under the district 
system one district may be wealthy and another poor, 
the former having scarcely any taxation and the latter 
a high rate of taxation. It is usual that, in such cases, 
the districts having a small rate of taxation are un- 
willing to consolidate with others. This is one of 
the difficulties. Consolidation will bring about uni- 
formity of taxation in the whole territory affected. 
This is an advantage in itself. If the old schoolhouses 
are in good condition there will be somewhat of a 
loss in selling them and in building a large new central 
building. This is another situation which always 
complicates the problem. If the old buildings are 
worthless and if they must be replaced in any event 
by new buildings, then the time is opportune for con- 
sidering consolidation. 

Even after the reorganization is effected, and the 
new central building located, the cost of education, 
all things considered, is not increased. It is undoubt- 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 71 

edly true that a larger amount of money may be needed 
to maintain the consoHdated school than to maintain 
all the various small schools which have previously 
existed. But other factors must be taken into account. 
The total amount of dollars and cents in the one situa- 
tion as compared with the total amount in the other 
does not tell the whole story. For it has been found 
that, everywhere in the country, there is a larger and 
better attendance of pupils in the consolidated 
school, that more pupils go to school, that they attend 
more regularly, and that the school terms are longer. 
Therefore the proper test of expense is the cost of a 
day's schooling for each pupil, or the cost "per pupil 
per day." Measured by this standard education in 
the consolidated school is no more expensive than in 
the unconsolidated schools; indeed it is usually less 
expensive. It is a good thing for society to give a 
day's education to one child ; then education pays as it 
goes, and the more days' education it can offer, the 
better. 

More Life in the Consolidated School. — No one can 
deny that in this larger school there can be more 
hfe and activity of all kinds, and a much finer school 
spirit than was possible in the smaller schools. Edu- 
cation means stimulation and where a great many 
children are brought together and properly organized 
and graded there is a more stimulating atmosphere 
and environment. 

Some Grading Desirable. — In these consolidated 



72 CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 

schools a reasonable amount of grading can be secured. 
It may be true that in some of the large cities an 
extreme degree of grading defeats education and the 
true aim of organization, but certainly in consolidated 
rural schools no such degree of refinement need be 
reached or feared. Grading can remain here in the 
golden mean and will be beneficial to pupils and 
teachers alike. The pupils thus graded will have more 
time for recitation and instruction, and teachers will 
have more time to do efiicient work. In the one- 
room rural school one teacher usually has eight grades 
and often more, and sometimes she is required to con- 
duct thirty or forty different recitations in a day. 
Under such conditions the lack of time prevents the 
attainment of good results. 

Better Teachers. — It is also true that, where a school 
is larger and attains to more of a system, better teachers 
are sought and secured by the authorities. As we 
have already said, the cities now secure nearly all 
of the best trained teachers, and the country dis- 
tricts are compelled to take what is left. But the 
consolidated school being organized, equipped, and 
graded, and representing, as it does, a large com- 
munity or district, the tendency will be to secure as 
good teachers as possible. This is helped along by the 
comparison and competition of teachers working side 
by side within the walls of the same building. In such 
schools, too, there is usually a principal, and he exercises 
the function of selection and rejection in the choice of 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 73 

teachers. All this conduces to the securing of good 
teachers in the consolidated center. 

Better Buildings and Inspection. — Similar improve- 
ments are attained in the building as a whole, in the 
individual rooms, and in the interior equipment. 
Such buildings are usually planned by competent 
architects and are more adequate in all their appoint- 
ments. All things are subject to inspection, both by 
the community and the authorities. It is natural 
that such inspection and criticism will be satisfied 
only with the best; and so the surroundings of pupils 
become much more favorable to their mental, moral, 
and physical well-being than was possible in the isolated 
one-room school building. 

Longer Terms. — The same discussion, agitation, in- 
spection, and supervision will inevitably lead to longer 
terms of school. Whereas the one-room schools usu- 
ally average six and a half months of school per year, 
the consolidated schools average over eight months. 
This is in itself a most important gain. 

Regularity, Punctuality, and Attendance. — The larger 
spirit and life of the consolidated school induce greater 
punctuality and regularity of attendance. When 
pupils are transported to school they are always on 
time, and when they are members of a class where 
there is considerable competition they attend school 
with great regularity. There are many grown-up 
pupils in the district who would not go to the small 
schools, but who will go to a larger school where they 



74 CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 

find their equals; and so the school attendance is 
greatly increased. We have, then, the advantages 
of greater punctuality, greater regularity, and more 
pupils in attendance. 

The school spirit is abroad in the consolidated school 
district; people are thinking and talking school. It 
becomes the customary and fashionable thing to send 
children to school. 

Better Supervision. — There is also much better 
supervision in the consohdated school; for, in addition 
to the supervision given by the county superintendent 
or his assistants, there is also the supervision of the 
principal, or head teacher. This is in itself no small 
factor in the making of a good school. Good super- 
vision always makes strongly for efficiency. 

The School as a Social Center.— Other effects than 
those above mentioned will necessarily follow. The 
consolidated school can and should become a social 
center. There should be an assembly room for lectures, 
debates, literary and musical entertainments, and meet- 
ings of all kinds. The lecture hall should be provided 
with a stage, and good moving-picture exhibitions 
might be given occasionally. There, also, the citizens 
may gather to hear public questions discussed. It 
could thus become a civic and social center as well as 
an educational center. All problems affecting the 
welfare of the community might be presented here; the 
people could assemble to listen to the discussion of 
political and other social and public questions, which 



CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 75 

are the subjects of thought and of conversation in the 
neighborhood. This is real social and educational Hfe. 

Better Roads. — Not only does consolidation tend to 
all the above results but it does many other things 
incidentally. It leads to the making of better roads; 
for where a community has to travel frequently it will 
provide good roads. This is one of the crying needs of 
the day throughout the country. 

Consolidation Coming Everywhere. — Consolidation 
is now under way in almost every state of the Union and 
wherever tried it has almost invariably succeeded. 
In but very few places have rural communities aban- 
doned the educational, social, and civic center, and 
gone back to their former state of isolation and deadly 
routine. 

The Married Teacher and Permanence. — In order 
to make the consolidated school a success, the policy will 
have to be adopted in America of building, at or near 
the school, a residence for the teacher, and of selecting 
as teacher a married man, who will make his home 
there among the people whose children he is to teach. 
Such a teacher should be a real community leader in 
every way, and his tenure of service should be per- 
manent. Grave and specific reasons only should effect 
his removal. With single men and women it is im- 
possible to secure the permanence of tenure that is 
desirable and necessary to the educational and social 
welfare of a school and a community. This has 
been demonstrated over and over again, and foreign 



76 CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS 

countries are far ahead of us in this respect. Such a 
real leader and teacher will, it is true, command a high 
salary; but a good home, permanence of position, a 
small tract of land for garden and field purposes, and 
the coming policy everywhere of an "insurance and 
retirement fund" would offer great inducements to 
strong men to take up their abode and cast their lot 
in such educational and community centers. 



CHAPTER VII 
THE TEACHER 

The Greatest Factor. — Now, although we may have 
a beautiful school campus, an adequate and artistic 
building, a Ubrary, laboratories and workshops with 
all necessary physical or material appointments com- 
plete, we may yet have a poor school; these things, 
however desirable, will not teach alone. The teacher 
is the mainspring, the soul of the school; the "plant," 
as it may be called, is only the body. A great person 
is one with a great soul, not necessarily with a great 
body. Hence it is that a great teacher with poor 
buildings and inferior equipments is incomparably 
better than great buildings and equipments without a 
competent teacher. 

What Education Is. — Education is essentially and 
largely the stimulation and transformation of one mind 
or personality by another. It is the impression of one 
great mind or soul upon another, giving it a manner 
of spirit, a bent, an attitude, as well as a thirst for 
knowledge. This is too often lost sight of in the com- 
plexity of things. Many people are inclined to think 
that educational equipment and machinery alone will 
educate. There is nothing further from the truth. 

77 



78 THE TEACHER 

Mark Hopkins would be a great teacher without equip- 
ment; buildings, grounds, apparatus, and labora- 
tories will not really educate without a great person- 
ality behind the desk. There is probably nothing more 
inspiring, more suggesting, more stimulating, or more 
transforming than intimate contact with great minds. 
Thought like water seeks its level, and for children to 
come into living and loving communication with a 
great teacher is a real uplift and an education in itself. 

As a saw will not saw without some extraneous power 
to give it motion, neither wdll the gun do execution 
without the man behind it. The locomotive is not 
greater than the man at the throttle, and the ship 
without the man at the helm flounders aimlessly upon 
the sea. Just so, a great personality must be behind 
the teacher's desk or there cannot be in any sense a 
real school. 

What the Real Teacher Is. — The true teacher is an 
inspirer; that is, he breathes into his pupils his spirit, 
his love of learning, his method of study, his ideals. 
He is a real leader in every way. Children — and we are 
all children to a certain extent — are great imitators, 
and so the pupils tend to become like the teacher. 

The true teacher stimulates to activity by example. 
Where you find such a teacher, things are constantly 
"doing"; people are thinking and talking school all the 
time; education is in the atmosphere. The real teacher 
is, to use a popular phrase, a "live wire." Something 
new is undertaken every day. He is a man of initiative 



THEITEACHER 79 

and push, and withal he is a man of sincerity and tact. 
While he is retrospective and circumspective he is also 
prospective — he is a man of the far-look-ahead type. 

A Hypnotist. — The teacher is in the true sense a 
suggester of good things. He is an educational hyp- 
notist. The longer I continue to teach the more 
am I impressed with the fact that suggestion is the 
great art of the teacher. Hence the true teacher is the 
leader and not the driver. 

Untying Knots. — A man once said that the best 
lesson he ever learned in school was the lesson of 
"untying knots." He meant, of course, that every 
problem that was thrown to the school by the teacher 
was "tackled" in the right spirit by the pupils. They 
investigated it and analyzed it; they peered into it and 
through it to find all the strands of relationship existing 
in it. It would be easier, of course, for the teacher 
under these circumstances merely to cut the knot and 
have it all done with, but this would be poor teaching. 
This would be telling, not teaching. This would lead 
to passivity and not to activity on the part of the 
pupils. And it may be said here that constant and 
too much telling is probably the greatest and most 
widespread mistake in teaching. Teachers are con- 
stantly cutting the knots for children who should be 
left to untie them for themselves. To untie a knot is 
to see through and through a subject, to see all around 
it, to see the various relations of its parts and, conse- 
quently, to understand it. This is solving a problem; 



8o THE TEACHER 

it is dissolving it; that is, the problem becomes a part 
of the pupil's own mind, and, having made it a part 
of himself, he understands it and never forgets it. 

This is the difference between not being able to 
remember and not being able to forget. In the former 
case the so-called knowledge is not a part of oneself; 
it is not vital. The roots do not penetrate beneath the 
surface of our minds; they are, as it were, merely stuck 
on; the mental sap does not circulate. In the latter 
case the knowledge is real; it is alive and growing; 
there is a vital connection between it and ourselves. 
It would be as difficult to tear it from us as it would to 
have our hearts torn out and still live. 

Too Much Kindness. — An illustration of the same 
point appears in the following incident. A boy who 
owned a pet squirrel thought it a kindness to the 
squirrel to crack all the nuts for it. The consequence 
was that the squirrel's incisors, above and below, grew 
so long that they overlapped and the animal could 
not eat anything. Too many teachers are so kind to 
their pupils that they crack all the educational nuts for 
them, with the consequence that the children become 
passive and die mentally for want of activity. The 
true teacher will allow his pupils to wrestle with their 
problems without interruption until they arrive at a 
conclusion. If some pupil "goes into the ditch" and 
flounders he should usually be allowed to get out by his 
own efforts as best he can. Here is the place where the 
teacher "should be cruel only to be kind." 



THE TEACHER 8 1 

The Button Illustration. — Another illustration may 
help to bring to us one of the characteristics of the 
really good teacher. When children, we have all, no 
doubt, amused ourselves by putting a string through 
two holes of a button and, after twirling it around 
between our thumbs, drawing it steadily in measured 
fashion so as to make the button spin and hum. If 
the string is drawn properly this will be successful; 
otherwise it will become a perfect snarl. This com- 
mon experience has often seemed to me to typify two 
different kinds of school. In one, where there is a 
great teacher "drawing" the school properly, you will 
hear, incidentally, the hum of industry, for all are 
active. A school which may be thus characterized is 
always better than the one characterized by silence and 
inaction. A little noise — in fact a considerable noise — 
is not inconsistent with a good school, and it frequently 
happens that what we call "the silence of death" is 
due to fear, which is always paralyzing. 

The Chariot Race. — Still another illustration may 
help to make clear what is meant by a good school and 
a good teacher. Lew Wallace, in his account of the 
chariot race, makes Ben Hur and his rival approach 
the goal with their horses neck and neck. He says 
that Ben Hur, in getting the best out of his steeds, 
sent his will out along the reins. A really spirited 
horse responds to the throb of his driver's hand upon 
the rein. A good driver gets the best out of his horse; 
he and his horse are in accord and the horse takes as 

Rural Life — 6 



82 THE TEACHER 

much pride in the performance as the driver does. 
This is analogously true of a good school. 

The schoolroom is not a complete democracy — in 
fact, it is not a democracy at all in the lower grades; 
it is or should be a benevolent autocracy. The teacher 
within the schoolroom is the law-making body, the 
interpreter of the laws, and the executor of the laws. 
The good teacher does all this justly and kindly, 
and so elicits the admiration, the respect, and the 
active support of the governed. He sends his will 
out along the reins. Some schools — those with great 
teachers in charge — are in this condition; they are 
coming in under full speed toward the goal, guided by 
a master whose will stimulates the pupils to the greatest 
voluntary activity. Other schools, we are sorry to say, 
illustrate the conditions where the reins are over the 
dashboard and the school is running away, pell-mell! 

Physically Sound. — What are some of the character- 
istic attributes or traits which a masterful and inspiring 
teacher should possess? In the first place he should 
be physically sound. It may seem like a lack of 
charity to say, and yet it is true, that any serious 
physical defect should militate against, if not bar, one 
from the schoolroom. Any serious blemish or notice- 
able defect becomes to pupils an ever-present sug- 
gestive picture, and to some extent must work against, 
rather than for, education. Other things being equal, 
those who are most comely and most beautiful of 
face and of form should be chosen. Since children are 



THE TEACHER 8^ 

extremely plastic and impressionable, and so susceptible 
to the influence of ideas and ideals, beauty and perfec- 
tion should, whenever possible, be the attributes of the 
person who is to guide and fashion them. 

Character. — A teacher should be morally sound; he 
should ''ring" true. One can give only what one has. 
A liar cannot teach veracity; a dishonest person can 
not teach honesty; the impure cannot teach purity. 
One may deceive for a time, but in the long run the 
echo of what we are, and hence what we can give, will 
be returned. It is often thought that children are 
better judges of moral defects and of shams than are 
grown people; but, while this is not true, it is neverthe- 
less a fact that many children, in a short time, divine or 
sense the true moral nature of the teacher. Children 
appreciate justice and will endure and even welcome 
severity if they know that justice is coupled with it. 
They are not averse to being governed with a firm hand. 
If pupils are allowed to do just as they please they 
may go home at the close of the first day, saying 
that they had a "lovely time" and liked their teacher, 
but in a very few days they will tire of it and begin to 
complain. 

Well Educated. — We need not, of course, contend at 
any length that a teacher should be well educated, in 
the academic sense of the word. In order to teach well, 
one must understand his subject thoroughly. It is 
quite generally held that a teacher should be at least 
four years in advance, academically, of the pupils 



84 THE TEACHER 

whom he is to teach. Whether this is true or not in 
particular cases, the fact remains that the teacher 
should be full of his subject, should be at home in it, 
and should be able to illustrate it in its various phases; 
he should be free to stand before his class without 
textbook in hand and to give instruction from a full 
and accurate mind. There is probably nothing that 
so destroys the confidence of pupils as the lamentable 
spectacle of seeing the teacher compelled at every turn 
to refer to the book for verification of the answers 
given. It is a sign of pitiable weakness. If a dis- 
tinction is to be made between knowledge and wisdom 
a true teacher should be possessed of the latter to a 
considerable extent. He should also have prudence, 
or practical wisdom. Wisdom and prudence imply 
that fine perspective which gives a person balance and 
tact in all situations. It should be noted that there is a 
policy, or diplomacy, in a good sense, which does not in 
any way conflict with principle; and the true teacher 
should have the knowledge, the wisdom, and the tact 
to do and to say the right thing at the right time and 
to leave unsaid and undone many, many things. 

Professional Preparation. — In addition to a thorough 
knowledge of subject matter every teacher should have 
had some professional preparation for his work. 
Teaching, like government, is one of the most com- 
plicated of arts, and to engage in it without any previous 
study of its problems, its principles, and its methods 
seems like foolhardiness. There are scores, if not 



THE TEACHER 85 

hundreds, of topics and problems which should be 
thought out and talked over before the teacher engages 
in actual work in the schoolroom. When the solutions 
of these problems have become a part of his own mind, 
they will come to his rescue as occasion demands; and, 
although much must be learned by experience, a sound 
knowledge of the fundamental principles of education 
and teaching will always throw much light upon prac- 
tical procedure. It is true that theory without prac- 
tice is often visionary, but it is equally true that 
practice without any previous knowledge, or theory, 
is very often blind. 

Experience, — In addition to the foregoing qualifica- 
tions the teacher, in order to be really masterful, must 
have had some — indeed considerable — actual experi- 
ence. It is this that gives confidence and firmness to 
all our procedure. The young lawyer when he appears 
at the bar, to plead his first case, finds his knees knock- 
ing together; but after a few months or years of prac- 
tice he acquires ease, confidence, and mastery in his 
work. The same is true of the physician and the 
teacher. Some successful experience always counts 
for much. School boards, however, often over-esti- 
mate mere experience. Poor experience may be 
worse than none; and some good superintendents are 
willing, and often prefer, to select promising candidates 
without experience, and then train or build them up 
into the kind of teachers they wish them to become. 

Choosing a Teacher. — If I were a member of a school 



86 THE TEACHER 

board in a country district where there is either a 
good one-room school or a consolidated school, I 
should go about securing a good teacher somewhat as 
follows: I should keep, so to speak, my ''weather eye" 
open for a teacher who had become known to some 
extent in all the surrounding country; one who had 
made a name and a reputation for himself. I should 
inquire, in regard to this teacher, of the county super- 
intendent and of his supervising officers. I should 
make this my business; and then, if I should become 
convinced that such a person was the one needed in 
our school, and if I had the authority to act, I should 
employ such a person regardless of wages or salary. 
If after a term or two this teacher should make a 
satisfactory record, I would then promote him, un- 
solicited, and endeavor to keep him as long as he would 
stay. 

A " Scoop." — Sometimes there is considerable rivalry 
among the newspapers of a city. The editors or local 
reporters watch for what they call a "scoop." This 
is a piece of news that will be very much sought by 
the public and which remains unknown to the people 
or, in fact, to the other papers until it appears in the 
one that has discovered it. This is analogous to what 
I should try to do in securing a teacher: I should try 
to get a veritable educational "scoop" on all the other 
districts of the surrounding country. The only way 
to secure such persons is for some individual or for the 
school board to make this a specific business. In the 



THE TEACHER 87 

country districts this might be done by one of the 
leading directors; in a consoHdated school, by the 
principal or superintendent. If it is true that "as 
the teacher so is the school," it is likewise true that 
as is the principal or superintendent so are the teachers. 

What Makes the DifiEerence. — It will be found that 
a small difference in salary will frequently make all 
the difference between a worthless and an excellent 
teacher. It is often the ten or fifteen doUars a month 
additional which secures the prize teacher; and so I 
should make the difference in salary a secondary con- 
sideration; for, after all, the difference amounts to 
very little in the taxation on the whole community. 

A Question of Teachers. — The question of teachers 
is the real problem in education, from the primary 
school to the great universities. It is the poor teaching 
of poor teachers everywhere that sets at naught the 
processes of education; and when the American people, 
and especially the rural people, realize that this is the 
heart and center of their problem, and when they 
realize also that the difference, financially, between a 
poor teacher and a good one is so small, they will rise 
to the occasion and proceed to a correct solution of 
their problem. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE THREE INSEPARABLES 

In the preceding chapter we discussed the t>pe of 
person that should be in evidence everywhere in the 
teaching profession. Such a type is absolutely neces- 
sary to the attainment of genuine success. It does 
not exist in a very large proportion in the rural schools 
nor yet in the whole field of elementary and, indeed, 
of secondary and higher education. It is of infrequent 
occurrence even in the colleges or universities, and 
hence it is that the teacher and the professor have been 
so often caricatured to their discredit. There is usu- 
ally some truth underlying a caricature; a cartoon 
would lack point if it did not possess a substratum of 
fact. 

The " Mode." — Now, there is estabhshed in the 
public mind this type of teacher; and when an idea or 
an ideal, however low, becomes once established, it is 
changed only with difficulty. This commonplace in- 
dividual, this mediocre type of man or of woman, has 
come to be regarded as a fairly typical representative of 
what the teacher usually is; or, as the statistician would 
express it, he is the "mode" rather than the average. 
The "mode" in any class of objects or of individuals 

88 



THE THREE INSEPARABLES 89 

is the one that occurs oftenest, the one most frequently- 
met with. And so this inactive, nondescript sort of 
person is often thought of as the typical teacher. He 
has no very high standing either financially or so- 
cially, and so has no great influence on the individuals 
around him or on the community in general. This 
conception has become so well established in the 
public mind, and is so frequently met with, that all 
teachers are regarded as being of the same type. The 
better teachers, the strong personaHties, are brought 
into this same class and must suffer the consequences. 

The "Mode" in Labor. — This same process of 
classif}ang individuals may be seen in other spheres 
also. In some sections of the country it is the 
method of estimating the worth of laboring men; 
all in the same class are considered equal; all of a class 
are reduced to the same level and paid the same wages. 
One man can do and often does the work of two or 
three men, and does it better; yet he must labor for 
the same common wage. 

The "Mode" in Educational Institutions. — The 
same is to a great extent true of the popular estimate 
of educational institutions. In the public mind an 
institution is merely an "institution." One is thought 
of as doing practically the same work as another; 
so when institutions come before legislatures for 
financial recognition in the way of appropriations, one 
institution is considered as deserving as another. The 
great public is not keen in its discriminations, whether 



90 THE THREE INSEPARABLES i 

it be a case of educational institutions, of laboring 
men, or of teachers. 

No "Profession." — The fact is that, throughout the 
lower ranks of the teachers' calling, there is really no 
profession. The personality of those engaged in the 
work is too ordinary to professionalize any calHng. 

Weak Personalities. — This condition of affairs has 
grown partly out of the fact that we have not, in the 
different states and in the country at large, a sufficiently 
high standard. The examinations are not sufficiently 
extensive and intensive to separate the sheep from the 
goats. The unqualified thus rush in and drive out the 
qualified, for the efficient cannot compete with the 
inefficient. The calling is in no sense a "closed" pro- 
fession, and consequently in the lower ranks it is 
scarcely a profession at all. 

Low Standard. — There is also established in the 
public mind a certain standard, or test, for common 
school teaching. This standard has been current 
so long that it has become quite stable, and it seems 
almost impossible to change it. As in the case of some 
individuals when they become possessed of an idea, 
it is almost impossible to dispossess the social mind of 
this low standard. 

The Norm of Wages Too Low. — In regard to the 
wages of teachers it may be said that there is fixed 
in the social mind also, a certain norm. As in the case 
of personality and of standard qualifications, a certain 
amount of wages has long been regarded as representing 



THE THREE INSEPARABLES 9 1 

the sum which a teacher ought to receive. For rural 
schools this is probably about fifty dollars a month; in 
fact, in most states the average wage paid to rural 
school teachers is below that amount. But let us say 
that fifty dollars is the amount that has become 
established in the popular mind as a reasonable salary. 
Here, as in the other cases, it is very difficult to change 
ideas established by long custom. For many years 
people have been accustomed to think of teachers 
receiving certain salaries, and they refuse to consider 
any higher sums as appropriate. This, of course, is an 
egregious blunder. The rural schools can never be 
lifted above their present plane of inefficiency until 
these three conceptions, (i) that of personahty, (2) 
that of standard, and, (3) that of wages, are revised in 
the public mind. There will have to be a great revolu- 
tion in the thought of the people in regard to these 
inseparable things. 

The Inseparables. — The fact is that, (i) strong per- 
sonalities, (2) a high standard of qualifications, (3) 
and a respectable salary go hand in hand. They rise 
and fall together; they are reactive, one upon the 
other. The strong personality implies the ability to 
meet a high standard and demands reasonable com- 
pensation. The same is true of the high standard — 
it selects the strong personality and this in turn cannot 
be secured except at a good salary. It may be main- 
tained that if school boards really face the ques- 
tion in earnest, and are willing to offer good salaries, 



92 THE THREE INSEPARABLES 

strong personalities who are able to meet that high 
standard can always be secured. Professor Hugo 
Mlinsterberg says: ''Our present civilization shows 
that in every country really decisive achievement is 
found only in those fields which draw the strongest 
minds, and that they are drawn only where the greatest 
premiums are tempting them," ^ 

Raise the Standard First. — The best way, then, to 
attack the problem is, first, to raise the standard. 
This will eliminate inferior teachers and retain or 
attract those of superior qualifications. It is to be 
regretted that we have not, in the United States, 
a more uniform standard for teaching in the common 
schools. Each state has its own laws, its own stand- 
ard. It would not, we think, be asking too much 
to provide that no person should teach in any grade 
of school, rural or elementary, in the United States, 
unless such person has had a course for teachers 
equivalent to at least three years of work in the high 
school or normal school, with pedagogical preparation 
and training. In fact, a national law making such a 
uniform standard among the teachers in the common 
schools of the country would be an advantage. But 
this is probably more than we can expect in the near 
future. As it is, there should be a conference of the 
educational authorities in each state to agree upon a 
standard for teaching, with a view to uniform state 
legislation. 

1 Psychology and Social Sanity, p. 82. 



THE THREE INSEPARABLES 93 

More Men. — One of the great needs of the caUing 
is more men. There was a time when all teachers were 
men; now nearly all teachers are women. There is as 
much reason for one condition as for the other. With- 
out going into an analysis of the situation or the 
causes which make it desirable that there should be 
more men in the teaching profession, it is, we think, 
generally granted that the conditions would be better, 
educationally, socially, and every other way, if the 
number of men and women in the work were about 
evenly divided. 

Cooperation Needed. — Educational movements and 
influences have spread downward and outward from 
above. The great universities of the world were 
established before the secondary and elementary school 
systems came into existence. Thought settles down 
from leaders who are in high places. We have shown 
in a former chapter that the state universities, the 
agricultural colleges, the normal schools, and the high 
schools have had a wonderful development within the 
last generation, while the rural school has remained 
practically at a standstill. The country districts have 
helped to support in every way the development of 
the higher schools; now an excellent opportunity 
presents itself for all the higher and secondary educa- 
tional influences to unite in helping to solve the rural 
school problem. 

The Supply. — The question is sometimes asked 
whether the right kind of teachers can be secured, if 



94 THE THREE INSEPARABLES 

higher salaries are offered. There can be no doubt at 
all on this point. Where the demand exists and where 
there is sufficient inducement offered, the supply is 
always forthcoming. Men are always at hand to engage 
in the most menial and even the most dangerous 
occupations if a sufficient reward, financial or other- 
wise, is offered. For high wages men are induced to 
work in factories where mercury must be handled and 
where it is well known that life is shortened many years 
as a consequence. Men are secured to work long hours 
in the presence of red-hot blast furnaces and in the low- 
est depths of the holds of ships. Can it be possible 
that with a reasonable salary the strongest kind of 
men would not be attracted to a calling that has as 
many points of interest and as many attractions as 
teaching? 

Make It Fashionable. — A great deal depends upon 
making any work or any calling fashionable. All 
that is needed is for the tide to turn in that direction. 
It is difficult to say how much salary will stop the 
outward tide and cause it to set in the other direction; 
but one thing is certain, we shall never completely 
solve the rural school problem until the tide turns. 

The Retirement System. — Strong personalities will, 
then, help to make teaching attractive and fashionable, 
as well as effectual. There is a movement now be- 
, coming quite extensive which will also add to the 
attractiveness of the teacher's calling. A system or 
plan of insurance and retirement is now being in- 



THE THREE INSEPARABLES 95 

stalled in many states for the benefit of teachers 
who become mcapacitated or who have taught a cer- 
tain period of time. This plan gives a feeling of con- 
tentment, and also a feeling of security against the 
stress and needs of old age, which will do much to 
hold strong people in the profession. The fear of 
being left penniless in later life and dependent upon 
others or upon the state, induces, without doubt, 
a great many persons to leave a calling so poorly paid, 
in order that they may, in more generous vocations, 
lay something by for "a, rainy day." The truth of 
this is borne in upon us more strongly when we re- 
member that teaching is different from law, medicine, 
or other professions. In these vocations a man's serv- 
ice usually becomes more and more in demand as he 
advances in years, on account of the reputation and 
experience he has gained; while in teaching, when a 
person arrives at the middle line of life or after, school 
boards begin to say and to think that he is getting too 
old for the schoolroom, and so they seek for younger 
talent. The consequence is that the good and faithful 
public servant who has given the best years of his life 
to the education of the young is left stranded in old 
age without an occupation and without money. The 
insurance and retirement fund plan is a movement in 
the right direction and will do something to help turn 
the tide of strong personaHties toward the teachers' 
calling. 

Similar Problem in the Church. — The church in its 



96 THE THREE INSEPARABLES 

various denominations is confronted with a similar 
problem. Time was when the ministry was an attrac- 
tive and, in fact, a fashionable calling. During a long 
period, education was for the most part a preparation 
for the ministry. In our day the doors of the min- 
istry, like the doors of the teaching profession, swing 
out; and if the strong personalities do not leave, at 
least the strong ones outside are not attracted to it. 

City and Country Salaries — Effects. — The average 
salary for rural school teachers in one state I find to 
be $45 a month. In that same state the average 
salary of teachers in the city and town schools is $55 
a month. Now, under such conditions, it is utterly 
impKDSsible to secure a good corps of teachers for the 
rural schools. If the ratio were reversed and the 
rural schools paid $55 a month, while the cities and 
towns paid only $45, there would be more chance of 
each securing teachers of equal ability. Even then, 
teachers would go to the city at the lower salary on 
account of the additional attractions and conveniences 
and the additional facilities and opportunities of 
every kind for self-improvement. 

In the state referred to, the average salary of all 
teachers in the common schools was $51 a month. 
It is utterly impossible to realize a "profession" on 
such a financial basis as this. Forty-five or fifty 
dollars a month for rural teachers is altogether too 
low. This must be raised fifty, if not one hundred per 
cent, in order that a beginning may be made in the 



THE THREE INSEPARABLES 97 

solution of the rural school problem. Where $50 a 
month seems to be the going wage, if school boards 
would offer $75 and then see to it that the persons 
whom they hire are efficient, an attempt at the solu- 
tion of the problem in that district or neighborhood 
would be made. Is it possible that any good, strong, 
educated, and cultured person can be secured for less 
than $75 a month? If in such a district there were 
eight months of school this would mean only 8 x $25, 
or $200 more than had been paid pre\iously. For ten 
sections of land this would mean about $20 a section, 
or $5 a quarter section, in addition to what they had 
been paying mth httle or no results. 

This sum often represents the difference between a 
poor school and a good school. With a fifty-dollar 
teacher, nothing worth while was done. There was 
no activity in the neighborhood; the pupils or the 
people had not been waked up. There had been no 
talking and no thinking of education or of schools, 
no reading, or talking about books, about education, 
about things of the higher Hfe. Under the seventy- 
five-dollar teacher all this is changed. 

The Solution Demands More. — Instead of $75, a 
community should pay to a wide-awake person who 
takes hold of a situation in a neighborhood and keeps 
things moving at least $100 a month. With nine 
months' school this would mean $900; and it is strange, 
indeed, if a person in the prime of Ufe who has spent 
many years in the preparation of his work, and who 

Rural Life — 7 



98 THE THREE INSEPARABLES 

has initiative and push, is not worth $ioo a month for 
nine months in the year. To such a person the people 
of that neighborhood intrust their dearest and priceless 
possessions — their own children. If we remember 
that, as the twig is bent the tree is inclined, there 
need be no hesitation about the value of efhcient teach- 
ing during the plastic period of childhood. In fact, 
it may easily be maintained that the salary should 
be even higher than this. But, if this be so, how far 
are we at present from even a beginning of the solution 
of our rural school problem! 

A Good School Board. — A good school board is one 
whose members are alive to their duties and wide- 
awake to the problems of education. They are men or 
women who have an intelhgent grasp of the situation 
and who will earnestly attempt to solve the educa- 
tional problems of school and of life in their community. 

Board and Teacher. — If a poor teacher and a good 
school board are brought together the chances are that 
they will soon part company. A good school board will 
not retain a poor teacher longer than it is compelled 
to. A poor school board and a good teacher will 
also part company, for the good teacher wiU not stay 
with it; he will leave and find rehef as soon as pos- 
sible. Under a poor school board and a poor teacher 
nothing will be done; the children, instead of being edu- 
cated, will be de-educated. Quarrels and dissensions 
will be created in the neighborhood and a miserable 
condition, educationally and socially, will prevail. If 



THE THREE INSEPARABLES 99 

a good school board and a good teacher join hands, 
the problem is solved, or at least is in a fair way 
to being solved. This last condition will mean an 
interested school, a united neighborhood, a live, wide- 
awake, and happy community. 

The Ideal. — It is as impossible to describe a suc- 
cessful solution of the problems of any particular 
school as it is to paint the lily, the rose, or the rainbow. 
All are equally indescribable and intangible, but never- 
theless the more real, potent, and inspiring on that 
account. Such a situation means the presence of a 
strong life, a strong mind, and a strong hand exem- 
plifying ideals every day. This is education, this is 
growth, this is real Hfe. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 

Imitation. — There are two processes by which all 
progress is attained, namely, imitation and invention. 
Imitation is found everywhere, in all spheres of 
thought and of action. Children are great imitators, 
and adults are only children grown up. Imita- 
tion, of course, is a necessary thing. Without it 
no use could be made of past experience. When it 
conserves and propagates the good it is to be com- 
mended; but the worthless and the bad are often 
imitated also. As imitation is necessary for the 
preservation of past experience, so invention is equally 
essential in blazing new paths of thought and of 
action. It is probably true that all persons are more 
prone to imitation than to invention. 

The Country Imitates the City. — The rural schools 
have always imitated the city schools, as rural life 
attempts to imitate city life. The books used in 
rural schools have been written almost exclusively 
with city conditions in mind and by authors who have 
been city bred or city won. These books have about 
them the atmosphere and the flavor of the city. Their 
selections as a rule contain references and allusions 

lOO 



THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM loi 

without number to city life, and give a cityward bent; 
their whole connotation and attitude direct the mind 
toward the city. As a consequence even school 
textbooks have been potent aids in the urban trend. 

Textbooks. — It is not urged that the subject matter 
of textbooks be made altogether rural in its applica- 
tions and references. The books should not be com- 
pletely ruralized; nor should there be two sets of 
books, one for the country and one for the city. But 
there should be a more even balance between the 
city aspect and the rural aspect of textbooks, whether 
used in the country or in the city. If the texts now 
used generally were rewritten with the purpose of 
attaining that balance, they would greatly assist the 
curriculum in both country and city schools. There 
is no reason why city children should not have their 
minds touched by the life, the thought, and the ac- 
tivities of the country; and it is granted that country 
children should be made conscious and cognizant of 
the life, the thought, and the activities of the city. 
There is no more reason why textbooks should carry 
the urban message, than that they should be dom- 
inantly ruralizing. 

An Interpreting Core. — The experiences of country 
children are of all kinds; rural life, thought, and as- 
pirations constitute the very development of their 
consciousness and minds. In all their practical ex- 
periences rural life and thought form the anchorage 
of their later academic instruction. This early ex- 



I02 THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 

perience constitutes what the Herbartians term their 
"apperception mass"; and children, as well as grown- 
ups, can interpret new matter only in terms of the 
old. The experiences of the child, which constitute 
his world of thought, of discourse, and of action, are 
the only means by which he grasps and interprets 
new thought and experience. Consequently, the 
texts which rural children use should make a strong 
appeal to their apperception mass — to their old stock 
and store of knowledge. It is the textbooks that 
bring to the old knowledge new mental material 
which the teacher and the textbook together attempt 
to communicate to the children. Without an inter- 
preting center — a stock and store of old knowledge 
which constitute the very mental life of the child — 
it is impossible for him to assimilate the new. The old 
experiences are, in fact, the mental digestive apparatus 
of the child. Without this center, or core, the new 
instead of being assimilated is, so to speak, merely 
stuck on. This is the case with much of the subject 
matter in city-made texts. It does not grow, but 
soon withers and falls away. It is, then, essential that 
the textbooks used in rural schools should have the 
rural bent and application, the rural flavor, the rural 
beck and welcome. 

Rural Teachers from the City. — The great majority 
of teachers come from the city. They are mostly 
young girls having, without blame on their part, the 
tone and temper, the attitude, spirit, and training 



THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 103 

which the city gives. Their minds have been urban- 
ized; all their thoughts are city thoughts. The text- 
books which they have used have been city textbooks; 
their teachers have for the most part been those in 
or from the city. It is not possible that such teachers 
can do for the rural districts all that ought to be done. 
They cannot help inspiring children with the idea of 
ultimately going to the city. This suggestion and 
this inspiration are given unconsciously, but in the 
years of childhood they take deep root and sooner or 
later work themselves out in an additional impetus 
to the urban trend. 

A Course for Rural Teachers.— Wliat is needed is 
a course of instruction for rural teachers, in every 
state of the Union. In some states the agricultural 
colleges have inaugurated a movement to this end. 
In such colleges, agricultural high schools, and in- 
stitutions of a similar kind in every state, a three- 
year course for teachers above the eighth year, 
specially designed to prepare them for rural school 
teaching, should be established. Such a school would 
furnish the proper atmosphere and the proper courses 
of instruction to suffuse the minds of these prospective 
teachers with appreciation and love of country life and 
rural school work. 

All Not to Remain in the Country. — It is not con- 
tended here that all who are born and brought up in 
the country ought to remain there for life. Many 
writers and speakers preach the gospel of " the country 



I04 THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 

for country children," but this cannot be sound. Each 
one, as the years go by, should ''find" himself and his 
own proper place. There are many children brought 
up in the country who find their place best in the heart 
of the great city; and there are many brought up in 
the cities who ultimately find themselves and their 
place in the country and in its work. While all this 
is true it may stiU be maintained that the proper 
mental food for country children is the life and the 
activities of the country; and if this life and these 
activities are made pleasant and attractive a larger 
percentage of country children will remain in the coun- 
try for the benefit of both country and city. 

Mere Textbook Teaching. — Many teachers in the 
country, as well as in the city, follow literally the 
textbooks provided for them. Textbooks, being com- 
mon and general, must leave the application of the 
thought largely to the teacher. To follow them is 
probably the easiest kind of teaching, for the mind 
then moves along the line of least resistance. Ac- 
cordingly the tendency is merely to teach textbooks, 
without libraries, laboratories, and other facilities for 
the application of the thought of the text. Application 
and illustration are always difficult. It frequently 
happens that children go through their textbooks 
under the guidance of their more or less mechanical 
teachers, without making any apphcation of their 
knowledge. Their learning seems to be stored away 
in pigeonholes and never used again. That in one 



THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 105 

pigeonhole does not mix with that in another. Their 
thoughts and their education in different fields are in 
no sense united. Pupils are surprised if they are asked 
or expected to use their knowledge in any practical 
manner. A man who had a tank, seven feet in diam- 
eter and eight feet high, about half full of gasoline, 
asked his daughter, who was completing the eighth 
grade, to figure out for him how many gallons it 
contained. She had just been over "weights and 
measures" and "denominate numbers" of all kinds. 
After much figuring she returned the answer that there 
were in it about seven and one half gallons, without 
ever suspecting the ridiculousness of the result. 

A Rich Environment. — The country is so rich in 
material of all kinds for scientific observation, that 
some education should be given to the rural child in 
this field. Agriculture and its various activities sur- 
round the child; nature teems with life, both animal 
and vegetable; the country furnishes long stretches of 
meadow and woodland for observation and study. 
Yet in most places the children are blind to the beauties 
and wonders around them. Nature study in such an 
environment should be a fascinating subject, and agri- 
culture is full of possibilities for the application of the 
thought in the textbooks. 

Who Will Teach These Things?— But who will teach 
these new sciences or open the eyes of the child to the 
beauties around him? Not everyone can do it. It 
will require a master. Teaching "at" these things 



lo6 THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 

in a dull, perfunctory way will do no good. It would 
be better to leave them untaught. We have, every- 
where, too much "attempting" to teach and not 
enough teaching, too much seeming and not enough 
being, too much appearance and not enough reality. 

An example wall illustrate the author's meaning. 
Some years ago an experienced institute conductor 
in a western state found himself the sole instructor 
when the teachers of the county convened. He sought 
among the teachers for someone who could and would 
give him assistance. One man of middle age, who had 
taught for many years, volunteered to take the subject 
of arithmetic and to give four lessons of forty minutes 
each in it during the week. This was good news to the 
conductor; he congratulated himself on having found 
some efficient help. His assistant, however, after 
talking on arithmetic for ten minutes of his first 
period, reached the limit of his capacity, either of 
thought or of expression, and had to stop. He could 
not say another word on that subject during the week! 
Now if this is true of an experienced middle-aged 
teacher of a subject so universally taught as arith- 
metic, how much more true must it be of an instructor 
in a subject like agriculture. It should not be ex- 
pected that a young girl, eighteen or twenty years 
of age, who has probably been brought up in the city 
and who has had the subject of agriculture only one 
period a day for a year, can give any adequate in- 
struction in that branch. She would be the butt for 



THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 107 

ridicule among the practical boys and girls in the 
country who would probably know more about such 
things than she. She would, therefore, lose the respect 
and confidence of pupils and parents, and it would 
really be better for her and for all concerned not to 
attempt the teaching of that subject at all. What is 
worth doing at all is worth doing well. A little instruc- 
tion well given and well applied is worth any amount 
of ''stuff" poorly done and unapplied. 

The Scientific Spirit Needed. — There is great need 
of teachers who are thoroughly imbued with the 
scientific spirit. In the country especially there is 
need of teachers who will rouse the boys and girls to 
the investigation of problems from the facts at hand 
and all around them. This should be done inductively 
and in an investigative spirit. Our whole system of edu- 
cation seems somewhat vitiated by the deductive atti- 
tude and method of teaching — the assuming of theories 
handed down by the past, without investigation 
or verification. This is the kind of teaching which 
has paralyzed China for untold generations. The 
easiest thing to do is to accept something which some- 
body else has formulated and then, without further 
ado, to be content with it. The truly scientific mind, 
the investigative mind, is one that starts with facts 
or phenomena and, after observing a sufficient number 
of them, formulates a conclusion and tests it. This 
will result in real thinking — which is the same as 
"thinging." It is putting things into causal relation 



lo8 THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 

and constructing from them, unity out of diversity. 
To induce this habit of thought, to inspire this spirit 
of investigation and observation in children is the 
essence of teaching. To teach is to cause others to 
think, and the man or woman who does this is a suc- 
cessful teacher. 

A Course of Study. — There should be in every rural 
school a simple and suggestive course of study. This 
should not be as large as a textbook. The purpose of 
it is not to indicate at great length and in detail either 
the matter or the manner of teaching any specific 
subject. It should be merely an outline of the metes 
and bounds in the processes and the progress of pupils 
through the grades. The course of study should be a 
means, not an end; it should be a servant and not a 
master. It should not entail upon the school or upon 
the teacher a vast complicated machinery or an endless 
routine of red tape. If it does this it defeats its true 
aim. Here again the country schools have attempted 
to imitate the city schools. In all cities grading is 
much more systematized, and is pushed to a greater 
extent than it is or should be in the country. Owing 
to the necessities of the situation and also to the con- 
venience of the plan in the cities, the grades, with their 
appropriate books, amount of work, and plan of pro- 
cedure, are much more definite than is possible or 
desirable in the country. To grade the country schools 
as definitely and as systematically as is done in the 
city would be to do them an irreparable injury. The 



THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 109 

country would make a great mistake to imitate the 
city school systems in its courses of study. 

Red Tape. — It frequently happens that county 
and state superintendents, in order to magnify their 
office and to appear busy and useful, impose upon 
the country schools all sorts of tests, examinations, re- 
ports, and what-not, to no purpose, and in fact to the 
injury of their schools. To pile up complications and 
intricacies of this kind in rural schools is utterly use- 
less, and indicates the want of a true conception of 
the school situation. All these things will not teach 
alone any more than a saw will saw alone. Behind it 
all must be the simple, great teacher, and for him all 
these things, beyond a reasonable extent, are hindrances 
to progress. 

Length of Term. — In very many country districts 
the terms are frequently only six months in the year. 
This should be extended to eight at least. Even in 
this case, it gives the rural school a shorter term than 
the city school, which usually has nine or ten months 
each year. But it is very probable that the simplicity 
of rural school life and rural school teaching will 
enable pupils to do as much in eight months as is done 
in the city in nine. 

Individual Work. — Individual work should be the 
rule in many subjects. There is no need, on account 
of numbers, of a lock-step. In the cities, where the 
teacher has probably an average of 35 to 40 children, 
all the pupils are held together and in line. In such 



no THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 

cases the great danger is to those above the average. 
There is the danger of forming what might be called 
the ''slow habit." The bright pupils are retarded in 
their work, for they are capable of much more than 
they do. In such cases the retardation is not on 
account of the inability of the pupil but on account 
of the system. The bright ones are held back in line 
with the slow. This need not be the case in rural 
schools. Here, in every subject which lends itself 
to the plan, each pupil should be allowed to go as far 
and as fast as he can, provided that he appreciates the 
thought, solves the problems, and understands the 
work as he goes. I once knew a large rural school in 
which there were enrolled about sixty pupils, taking 
the subjects of all the grades, from the first to the 
eighth and even some high school subjects. In such 
classes as arithmetic the pupils were, so to speak, 
''turned loose" and all entered upon a race for the 
goal. Each one did as much as he could, his attain- 
ments being subjected to the test of examination. 
The plan worked excellently; no one was retarded, and 
all were intensely busy. 

" Waking Up the Mind." — The main thing in any 
school is not the amount of knowledge which pupils get 
from textbooks or from the teacher, but the extent to 
which the mind appropriates that knowledge and is 
"waked up" by it. Mr. Page in his excellent classic. 
The Theory and Practice of Teaching, has a chapter 
called "Waking Up the Mind" and some excellent 



THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM ill 

illustrations as to how it may be done. The main 
thing is not the amount of mere knowledge or in- 
formation held in memory for future delivery, but the 
spirit and attitude of it all. The extent to which 
children's minds are made awake and sensitive, and 
the extent to which they are inspired to pursue with 
zest and spirit any new problem are the best criterions 
of success in teaching. The spirit and method of 
attack is all-important; quantity is secondary. If 
children have each other, so to speak, "by the ears," 
over some problem from one day to the next, it indi- 
cates that the school and the teacher are awake, 
that they are up and doing, and that education, which 
is a process of leavening, is taking place. 

The Overflow of Instruction. — On account of the 
individual work which is possible in the country 
schools, what is sometimes called the "overflow of 
instruction" is an important factor in the stimulation 
and the education of all the children in the room. In 
the city school, where all are on a dead level, doing the 
same work, there is not much information or inspira- 
tion descending from above, for there is no class 
above. But in the rural school, children hear either 
consciously or unconsciously much that is going on 
around them. They hear the larger boys and girls 
recite and discuss many interesting things. These 
discussions wake up minds by sowing the seeds which 
afterwards come to flower and fruit in those who 
listen — in those who, in fact, cannot help hearing. 



112 THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 

I remember an incident which occurred during my 
experience as a pupil in a country school. A certain 
county superintendent, who used to visit the school 
periodically, was in the habit, on these occasions, of 
reading to the school for probably half an hour. 
Just what he read I do not even remember, but I 
recall vividly his quiet manner and attitude, his 
beautiful and simple expression, and the whole tone 
and temper of the man as he gathered the thought 
and expressed it so beautifully and so artistically. 
This type of thing has great influence. It is often the 
intangible thing that tells and that is valuable. In 
every case, that which is most artistically done is 
probably that which leaves its impression. 

Affiliation. — In some states, notably in Minnesota, 
an excellent plan is in vogue by which the schools 
surrounding a town or a city are affiliated with the 
city schools in such a manner as to receive the benefit 
of the instruction of certain special teachers from the 
city. These teachers — of manual training, domestic 
science, agriculture, etc. — are sent out from the city 
to these rural schools two or three times a week, and 
in return the country children beyond a certain grade 
are sent to the high school in the city. This is a process 
of affiliation which is stimulating and economical, and 
can be encouraged with good results. 

The " Liking Point." — In the teaching of all subjects 
the important thing is that the pupil reach what may 
be termed the "liking point." Until a pupil has 




A Christmas gathering at the new school 



i 



1 1 1 1 




A school garden in ihe larger center 



THE RURAL SCHOOL CURRICULUM 113 

reached that point in any subject of study his work is 
mere drudgery — it is work which is probably dishkcd. 
The great problem for the teacher is to bring the child 
as soon as possible to this liking point, and then to 
keep him there. It is probable that every pupil can 
be brought to the liking point of every subject by a 
good teacher. Where there is difficulty in doing this, 
something has gone wrong somewhere, either on the 
part of the pupil, his former teachers, his parents, or 
his companions. Wlien a pupil has reached the liking 
point it means that he has a keen relish, an appetite 
for the subject, and in this condition he will actively 
pursue it. 

The Teacher the Chief Factor. — The foregoing ob- 
servations imply again that the teacher, after all, is 
the great factor in the success of the school. He is 
the ''man behind the gun"; he is the engineer at the 
throttle; he is the master at the helm; he is the guide, 
for he has been over the road; he is the organizer, 
the center of things; he is the mainspring; he is the 
soul of the school, and is greater than books or courses 
of study. He is the living fire at which all the children 
must light their torches. Again we ask, how can this 
kind of person be found? Without him true educa- 
tion, in its best sense, cannot be secured; with him the 
paltry consideration of salary should not enter. With- 
out such teachers there can be no solution of the rural 
school problems, nor, indeed, of the rural life problems. 
With him and those of his class, there is great hope. 

Rural Life— 8 



CHAPTER X 
THE SOCIAL CENTER 

During the past few years we have heard much of 
what is called the ''social center," or the "community 
center," in rural districts. This idea has grown with 
the spread of the consolidation of schools, and means, 
as the name implies, a unifying, coordinating, organ- 
izing agency of some kind in the midst of the com- 
munity, to bring about a harmony and solidity of all 
the interests there represented. It implies of course 
a leader; for what is left to be done by people in gen- 
eral is likely to be done poorly. There is no doubt 
that this idea should be encouraged and promoted. 
People living in the country are of necessity forced to 
a life of isolation. Their very work and position 
necessitate this, and consequently it is all the more 
necessary that they should frequently come together 
in order to know each other and to act together for 
the benefit of all. "In union there is strength," but 
these people have always been under a great dis- 
advantage in every way, because they have not organ- 
ized for the purpose of united and effective cooperation. 

The Teacher, the Leader. — There is no more 
appropriate person to bring about this organization, 

114 



THE SOCIAL CENTER 115 

this unification, this increased sohdarity, than the 
public school teacher of the community; but it will 
require the head and the hand of a real master to 
lead a community — to organize it, to unite it, and 
to keep it united. It requires a person of rare strength 
and tact, a person who has a clear head and a large 
heart, and who is "up and doing" all the time. A 
good second to such a person would be the minister 
of the neighborhood, provided he has breadth of view 
and a kindly and tolerant spirit. Much of the success 
of rural life in foreign countries, notably in Denmark, 
is due to the combined efforts of the schoolmaster and 
the minister of the community church. 

Some Community Activities. — Let us suggest briefly 
some of the activities that are conducive to the fuller 
life of such a social center. It is true that these 
activities are more possible in the consolidated dis- 
tricts than in the communities where consolidation 
has not been effected; but many of them could be pro- 
vided even in the small schools. 

The Literary Society. — There should be in every 
school district a literary society of some kind. This 
of course must not be overworked, for other kinds of 
activities also should be organized in order to give 
the change which interest demands. In this literary 
society the interest and assistance of the adults 
of the neighborhood and the district, who arc wilHng 
and able to cooperate, should be enlisted. There are 
in every community a few men and women who will 



Ii6 THE SOCIAL CENTER 

gladly assist in a work of this kind if their interest 
can be properly aroused. There is scarcely any 
better stimulus to the general interest of a neigh- 
borhood, and especially of the children in the school, 
than seeing and hearing some of the grown-up men 
and women who are their neighbors participate in 
such literary work. 

Debates. — An important phase of the literary work 
of such a society should be an occasional debate. 
This might be participated in sometimes by adults 
who are not going to school, and sometimes by the 
bigger and more advanced pupils. Topics that are 
timely and of interest to the whole community should 
be discussed. There is probably no better way of 
teaching a tolerant spirit and respect for the honest 
opinions of others than the habit of "give and take" 
in debate. In such debates judges could sometimes 
be appointed and at other times the relative merits 
of the case and of the debaters might well be left to 
the people of the neighborhood without any formal 
decision having been rendered. This latter* plan is 
the one used in practical life in regard to addresses 
and debates on the political platform. The discussions 
and differences of opinion following such debates con- 
stitute no small part of life and thought manifested 
later in the community. 

The School Program. — A program or exhibition by 
the school should be given occasionally. This would 
differ from the work of the literary society in that it 



THE SOCIAL CENTER 117 

would be confined to the pupils of the school. Such 
a program should be a sample of what the pupils are 
doing and can do. It should be a mental exhibition 
of the school activities. There is scarcely anything 
that attracts the people and the parents of the neighbor- 
hood more than the literary performances of their 
children, younger and older. Such performances, as 
in other cases, may be overdone; they may be put 
forward too frequently; they may also be too lengthy. 
But the teacher with a true perspective will see 
to it that all such extremes are avoided, for he re- 
alizes that there are other activities which must be 
developed and presented in order to secure a change of 
interest. These school programs occupy the mind 
and thought of the community for some time. The 
performance of the different parts and the efforts 
of the various children — both their successes and their 
failures — become the subjects of thought and of talk 
in the neighborhood. It acts like a kind of ferment 
in the social mind; it keeps the school and the com- 
munity talking and thinking of school and of education. 
Spelling Schools. — For a change, even an old- 
fashioned spelling school is not to be scorned. 
Years ago this was quite the custom. An entire 
school would, on a challenge, go as a sleigh-ride party 
to the challenging school. There the spelUng contest 
would take place. One of the teachers, either the 
host or the guest, would pronounce the words, and 
the visiting school would return, either victorious or 



Il8 THE SOCIAL CENTER 

vanquished. A performance of this kind enHsts the 
attention and the interest of people and schools in 
the necessity of good spelhng; it affords a delightful 
social recreation, stirs up thought and wakes up mind 
in both communities, by an interesting and courteous 
contest. Such results are not to be undervalued. 

Lectures. — If the school is a consolidated one, or 
even a large district school, a good lecture course may 
be given to advantage. Here, again, care must be 
taken that the lectures, even if few, shall be choice. 
Nothing will kill a course of lectures sooner than to 
have the people deceived a few times by poor ones. 
It would be better to have three good lectures during 
the year than six that would be disappointing. These 
lecture courses may be secured in almost every state 
through the Extension Department of the various 
state institutions. Recently the states of Wisconsin, 
Minnesota, and North Dakota have entered into an 
arrangement whereby they will furnish any rural or 
urban community of these states with good lecturers 
at a very small consideration. Excellent lectures can 
be secured in this way on a great variety of subjects, 
including those most interesting to rural communities 
and most helpful in all phases of farm life. These 
might be secured in the winter season when there is 
ample time and leisure for all to attend. 

Dramatic Performances. — In the social centers where 
the conveniences admit, simple dramatic perform- 
ances might be worked up or secured from the out- 



THE SOCIAL CENTER 119 

side. It is no doubt true that life in country com- 
munities is not suflEiciently cheered through the agency 
of the imagination. In fact, the tendency is for farmers 
and for farmers' famihes to live a rather humdrum 
existence involving much drudgery. On the se- 
cluded farms during the long winter months, there 
is much lonesomeness and weariness. It has been 
asserted that the isolation and solitariness in sparsely 
settled districts are causes of the high percentage 
of insanity in rural and frontier communities. It is 
good for the mental and physical health of both old 
and young to be lifted, once in a while, out of the 
world of reality into that of the imagination. All 
children and young people like to play, to act, to 
make believe. This is a part of their life, and it is 
conducive to their mental and social welfare to express 
themselves in simple plays or to see life in its various 
phases presented dramatically. 

A Musical Program. — If the teacher is a leader he 
will either be able, himself, to arrange a musical 
entertainment, or he will secure some one who can 
and will do so. All, it is contended, can learn to sing 
if they begin early enough; and there is probably no 
better mode of self-expression and no better way of 
waking up people emotionally and socially than to 
engage them in singing. The importance of singing, 
to secure good and right emotional attitudes toward 
life and mankind, is indicated in the saying, "Let me 
make the songs of a nation and I care not who makes 



I20 THE SOCIAL CENTER 

her laws." The importance of singing is recognized 
to a much greater extent in foreign countries, notably 
in Germany, than in America. In Germany all sing; 
in America, it is to be regretted, but few sing. There 
should be a real renaissance in music throughout the 
country. As an aid in the teaching of music and of 
song, that matvelous invention, the "talking machine," 
should be made use of. It would be an excellent 
thing if a phonograph could be put in every school. 
Children would become acquainted with the best music; 
they would grow to like it, as the weeks, months, and 
years roll on. This machine is a wonderful help in 
developing an appreciation of good music. 

Slides and Moving Pictures. — In the consolidated 
schools, where there is a suitable hall, a moving- 
picture entertainment of the right kind is to be com- 
mended. The screens and the lantern enable us, in 
our imaginations, to live in all countries and climes. 
The eye is the royal road to the mind, and most people 
are eye-minded; and the moving picture is a wonder- 
ful agency to convey to the mind, through the eye, 
accurate pictures of the world around us, natural and 
social. The community center — the school center — 
should avail itself of all such inventions. 

Supervised Dancing. — Even the supervised dance, 
where the sentiment of the community will allow, 
is not to be condemned. It is much better to have 
young people attend dances that are supervised than 
to attend public dances that are not supervised; 



THE SOCIAL CENTER 1 21 

and young people, as a rule, will attend one or the other. 
The practical question or condition is one of super- 
vision or no supervision, for the dance is here. The 
dance properly supervised, and conducted in a cour- 
teous, formal way, beginning and closing at the right 
time, can probably be turned to good and made 
an occasion for social and individual culture. The 
niceties and amenities of life can there be inculcated. 
There is no good reason why the dance activities 
should be turned over to the devil. There was a time 
and there were places where violin playing was turned 
over to him and banished from the churches. Dancing 
is too old, too general, too instinctive, and too im- 
portant, not to be recognized as a means to social 
culture. Here again the sane teacher can be an effi- 
cient supervisor. He can take care that the young 
people do not become entirely dance-minded. 

Sports and Games. — The various sports should not 
be forgotten. Skating, curling, and hockey, basket 
ball, and volley ball, are all fine winter sports; in 
summer, teams should be organized in baseball, tennis, 
and all the proper athletic sports and games. Play 
should be supervised to a certain extent; over-super- 
vision will kill it. Sometimes plays that are not 
supervised at all degenerate and become worse than 
none. All of these physical activities and sports 
should be found and fostered in the rural center. 
They are healthful, both physically and mentally, 
and should be participated in by both girls and boys. 



122 THE SOCIAL CENTER 

It is probably true that our schools and our edu- 
cation have stood, to too great an extent, for mere 
intellectual acquisition and training. In Sparta of 
old, education was probably nine tenths physical 
and one tenth mental. In these modern days 
education seems to be about ninety-nine parts men- 
tal. A sound body is the foundation of a sound 
mind, and time is not lost in devoting much atten- 
tion to the play and games of children and young 
people. There is no danger in the schools of our day 
of going to an extreme in the direction of physical 
education; the danger is in not going far enough. I 
am not sure that it would not be better if the chil- 
dren in every school were kept in the open air half 
the time learning and participating in various games 
and sports, instead of, as now, poring over books and 
memorizing a lot of stuff that will never function on 
land or sea. 

School Exhibits. — In the social centers a school 
exhibit could be occasionally given with great profit. 
If domestic science is taught, an occasion should be 
made to invite the people of the neighborhood to 
sample the products, for the test of the pudding is 
in the eating. This would make a delightful social 
occasion for the men and women of the community to 
meet each other, and the after-effects in the way of 
favorable comment and thought would be good. 
If manual training is an activity of the school, as it 
ought to be, a good exhibit of the product of this 



THE SOCIAL CENTER 123 

department could be given. If agriculture is taught and 
there is a school garden, as there should be, an ex- 
hibit once a year would produce most desirable effects 
in the community along agricultural lines. 

A Public Forum. — Aside from provisions for school 
activities in this social center there should be a hall 
where public questions can be discussed. All political 
parties should be given equal opportunities to present 
their claims before the people of the community. This 
would tend toward instruction, enlightenment, and 
toleration. The interesting questions of the day, in 
political and social life, should be discussed by ex- 
ponents chosen by the social center committee. In 
America we have learned the lesson of listening quietly 
to speakers in a public meeting, whether we agree 
with them or not. In some countries, when a man 
rises to expound his political theories, he is hissed down 
or driven from the stage by force. This is not the 
American way. In America each man has his hour, 
and all listen attentively and respectfully to him. 
The next evening his opponent may have his hour, 
his inning, and the audience is as respectful to him. 
This is as it should be; this is the true spirit of tolera- 
tion which should prevail everywhere and which can 
be cultivated to great advantage in these rural, social 
centers. It makes, too, for the fullness of life in rural 
communities. It makes country life more pleasant 
and serves in some degree to counteract the strong 
but regrettable urban trend. 



124 THE SOCIAL CENTER 

Courtesy and Candor. — There are two extremes in 
debates and in public discussions which should be 
equally avoided: The first is that brutal frankness 
which forgets to be courteous; and the second is that 
extreme of hypocritical courtesy which forgets to be 
candid. What is needed everywhere is the candor 
which is also courteous and the courtesy which is 
likewise candid. In impulsive youth and in lack of 
education and culture, brutal candor without courtesy 
sometimes manifests itself; while courtesy without 
candor is too often exhibited by shrewd politicians 
and diplomatic intriguers. 

Automobile Parties. — A delightful occasion could 
frequently be made by the men of the rural com- 
munity who are the owners of automobiles, by taking 
all the children of the community and of the schools, 
once in a while, for an automobile ride to near or 
distant parts of the county. Such an occasion would 
never be forgotten by them. It would be enjoyable 
to those who give as well as to those who receive, and 
would have great educational as well as social value. 
It would bind together both young and old of the com- 
munity. Occasions like these would also conduce to 
the good-roads movement so commendable and im- 
portant throughout the country. The automobile 
and the consolidation of rural schools, resulting in 
social centers, are large factors in the good-roads 
movement. 

Full Life or a Full Purse. — The community which 



THE SOCIAL CENTER 125 

has been centralized socially and educationally may 
often bring upon itself additional expense to pro- 
vide the necessary hall, playgrounds, and other con- 
veniences required to realize and to make all of these 
activities most effective. But this is a local problem 
which must be tackled and solved by each community 
for itself. The community where the right spirit 
prevails will realize that they must make some sac- 
rifices. If a thing is worth while, the proper means 
must be provided. One cannot have the benefit 
without paying the cost. It is a question as to which 
a community will choose: a monotonous, isolated life 
with the accumulation of some money, or an active, 
enthusiastic, educational, and social life without so 
many dollars. It is really a choice between money 
with little life on the one hand, and a little less money 
with more fullness of life on the other. Life, after 
all, is the only thing worth while, and in progressive 
communities its enrichment will be chosen at any cost. 
Here again it is the duty of the teacher to bring about 
the right spirit and attitude and the right decision 
in regard to all these important questions. 

Organization. — A community which is socially and 
educationally organized will need a central post ofl&ce 
and to^vn hall, a community store, a grain elevator, 
a church, and possibly other community agencies. 
All of these things tend to solidify and bring together 
the people at a common center. 

This suggests organization of some kind in the 



126 THE SOCIAL CENTER 

community. The old grange was good in its ideal; 
the purpose was to unite and bring people together 
for mutual help. There should probably be a young 
men's society of some kind, and an organization of 
the girls and women of the community. It is true 
that the matter may be overdone and we may have 
such a thing as activity merely for the sake of activity. 
It was Carlyle who said that some people are noted 
for "fussy littleness and an infinite deal of nothing." 
The golden mean should apply here as elsewhere. 

The Inseparables. — To bring all of these things about 
requires talent and ingenuity on the part of the leader 
or leaders; and we come again to the inseparables 
mentioned in a former chapter. It will require a great 
personality to organize. The word "great" implies 
a high standard; and strong personalities, such as are 
capable of managing a social center, cannot possibly 
be secured without an adequate inducement in the 
way of salary. Proper compensation cannot mean 
sixty, seventy-five, or one hundred dollars a month. 
It must mean also permanence of position. Again 
we come face to face with the problem of the teacher 
in our solution of the problem of rural life and the 
rural school. 

In conclusion it must be said that nothing is too 
good for the country which is not too good for the 
city. The rural community must determine to have 
all these good things at any cost, if it wishes to work 
out its own salvation. 



CHAPTER XI 
RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 

Important. — Supervision is fully as important as 
teaching. The supervisor must be, to even a higher 
degree than the teacher, a strong personality, and this 
too implies a high standard and an attractive salary. 
The supervisor or superintendent must be somewhat 
of an expert in the methods of teaching all the com- 
mon school subjects. Not only must he understand 
school discipline and organization in its details, but 
he must possess the ability to ''turn in" and exemplify 
his qualifications at any time. It will be seen every- 
where that the supervisor or superintendent is the 
expensive person; for, having the elements of leader- 
ship, he is in demand in educational positions as well 
as in outside callings. Consequently it is only by a 
good financial inducement, as a rule, that a competent 
supervisor can be retained in the profession. 

Supervision Standardizes. — Without the superin- 
tendent or supervisor, no common standard can be 
attained or maintained. It is he who keeps the force 
up to the line; without him each teacher is a law unto 
himself and there will be as many standards as there 
are teachers. Human nature is innately slothful and 
negligent, and needs the spirit of supervision to keep 

127 



128 RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 

it toned up to the necessary pitch. Supervision over 
a large force of workers of any kind is absolutely 
necessary to secure efficiency, and to keep service 
up to a high standard. 

Supervision Can Be Overdone. — The necessity 
for supervision is clearly felt in the city systems. 
There they have a general superintendent, principals 
of buildings, and supervisors in various special lines. 
A system of schools in the city without supervision 
would simply go to pieces. It would soon cease to be 
a system, and would become chaotic. It may be, 
it is true, that in some cities there is too much super- 
vision; it may become acute and pass the line of true 
efficiency. Indeed, in some cities the red tape may 
become so complicated and systematized that it be- 
comes an end, and schools and pupils seem to exist 
for supervisors and systems instead of vice versa. 
It is probably true that the constant presence of a 
supervisor who is adversely critical may do injury 
to the efficiency of a good teacher. No one can teach 
as well under disapprobation as he can where he 
feels that his hands are free; and so in some places 
supervision may act as a wet blanket. It may sup- 
press spontaneity, initiative, and real Ufe in the school. 
But this is only an abuse of a good thing, and prob- 
ably does not occur frequently. In any event, the 
exception would only prove the rule. Supervision 
is as necessary in a system of schools as it is in a rail- 
road or in large industries. 




A basket ball team for the girls 




'-=^Sar: 



A brass band for the voung men 



ACTIVITIES OF TIIK CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 



RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 129 

Needed in Rural Schools. — The country partakes of 
the same isolation in regard to its schools as it does in 
regard to life in general. This isolation is accentuated 
where there is little or no supervision. Without 
it, the necessary stimulus seldom or never touches 
the life of the teacher or the school. There is little 
uplift; the school runs along in its ordinary, hum- 
drum fashion, and never measures itself with other 
schools, and is seldom measured by a supervisor. A 
poor teacher may be in the chair one term and a 
good teacher another. The terms are short and the 
service somewhat disconnected. The whole situation 
gives the impression to people, pupils, and teacher 
that education is not of very great value. 

No Supervision in Some States. — In some states 
there is practically no supervision. There is, it is true, 
a district board but these are laymen, often uneducated, 
and knowing little of the teacher's profession. They 
have no standards for judging a school and seldom 
visit one. The selection known as the "Deestrict 
Skule" illustrates fairly well the ability of the local 
lay-board to pass judgment upon the professional 
merits of the teacher. 

Nominal Supervision. — In other states there is a 
county superintendent on part time who has a kind 
of general but attenuated supervision over all the 
schools of a county. He is usually engaged in some 
other line of work — in business, in medicine, in law, 
in preaching — and can give only a small portion of 

Rural Life — 9 



I30 RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 

his time to the work of superintendence. Indeed, 
this means only an occasional visit to the school, 
probably once every one or two years, and such simple 
and necessary reports as are demanded by the state 
superintendent or State Board of Education. Such 
superintendence is merely a sham and a pretense. He 
may visit a teacher to-day, but the next time he enters 
that same school he is Hkely to find another teacher. 
Under such circumstances he can be of little service. 
He has seen the work of the teacher for half an hour 
or an hour; he passes some complimentary remarks 
and goes his way. Such supervision is worthless; in- 
deed, it may be worse than none, for it leaves the 
impression on the public that there is supervision 
when in reality there is none. 

Some Supervision. — Elsewhere we find county super- 
intendents who devote their whole time to the work, 
but who are chosen for short terms and in a political 
campaign. Under such circumstances the candidate 
must be a resident of the county and he is elected 
for political, as much as for educational, reasons. If 
he is politically minded — and the probabilities are 
that such is the case — he will spend much of his time, 
energy, and thought in electioneering for another 
term. Being a candidate for reelection, his constant 
thought is to impress the public mind in his favor. 
In order to keep himself constantly in the public eye, 
he even prints blanks of various kinds for class and 
school reporting, on which his name always appears. 



RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 131 

Being elected for only two years, he has not the time to 
carry out any educational policy even if he had the 
ability and inclination to do so. Of course many per- 
sons chosen in this way make excellent and efficient 
officers, but the plan is bad. The good superintendent 
frequently loses out soonest. 

An Impossible Task. — Superintendents sometimes 
have under their jurisdiction from one hundred to 
two hundred, or even more, schools separated by long 
distances. The law usually prescribes that the county 
superintendent shall visit each school at least once 
a year. This means that practically he will do no 
more; indeed it is often impossible to do more. It 
means that his visits must of necessity be a mere 
perfunctory call of an hour or two's duration with no 
opportunity to see the same teacher again at work 
to determine whether or not she is making progress, 
and whether she is carrying out his instructions. 
Such so-called supervision, or superintendence, is 
really not supervision at all, but a mere farce. 
The superintendent is only a clerical officer who does 
the work required by law, and makes incidentally 
an annual social visit to the schools. 

The Problem Not Tackled. — Such a situation is 
another evidence that the states which tolerate the 
foregoing conditions have not, in any real and earnest 
manner, attempted to solve the problem of rural school 
supervision. They have merely let things drift along 
as they would, not fully realizing the problem or else 



132 RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 

trusting to time to come to their aid. Micawber- 
like, they are waiting for "something to turn up." 
But such problems wall not solve themselves. 

City Supervision. — Compare the supervision de- 
scribed above with that which is usually found in 
cities. There we usually find a general superintendent 
and assistant superintendents; there are high school 
principals and a principal at the head of every grade 
building; there is also a supervisor of manual training, 
of domestic science, of music, of drawing, and possibly 
of other subjects. When we consider, too, that the 
teachers in the city are all close at hand and that the 
supervisor or superintendent may drop into any room 
at any time with scarcely a minute's notice, we see the 
difference between city supervision and country super- 
vision. Add to this the fact that cities attract the 
strong teachers — the professionally trained teachers, 
the output of the professional schools — and we can 
see again how effective supervision becomes in the 
city as compared with that in the country. In the 
country we find only one superintendent for a county 
often as large as some of the older states, and the 
possibility of visiting each school only about once a 
year. Here also are the teachers who are not pro- 
fessionalized, as a rule, and who, therefore, need 
supervision most. 

The Purpose of Supervision. — The main purpose of 
supervision is to bring teachers up to a required stand- 
ard of excellence in their work and to keep them there. 



RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 133 

It is always the easiest plan to dismiss a teacher who 
is found deficient, but this is cutting the knot rather 
than untying it. Efficient and intelligent supervis- 
ion proceeds along the line of building such a teacher 
up, of making her strong where she is weak, of giving 
her initiative where she lacks it, of inculcating good 
methods where she is pursuing poor ones, of inducing 
her to come out of her shell where she is backward 
and diffident. In other words, the great work of the 
supervisor is to elicit from teachers their most active 
and hearty response in all positive directions. It 
should be understood by teachers — and they should 
know that the superintendent or supervisor indorses 
the idea — that it is always better to go ahead and 
blunder than to stand still for fear of blundering; and 
so, in the presence of a good supervisor, the teacher 
is not afraid to let herself out. In the conference, 
later, between herself and her supervisor, mistakes 
may be pointed out; but, better than this, the best 
traits of the teacher should be brought to her mind 
and the weak ones but lightly referred to. 

What Is Needed. — What is needed in the rural 
situation is a county superintendent chosen because 
of his professional fitness by a county board whose 
members have been elected at large. This board 
should be elected on a nonpartisan ticket and so 
far as possible on a basis of qualification and of good 
judgment in educational matters. It should hold office 
for a period of years, some members retiring from the 



134 RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 

board annually so that there shall not be, at any 
time, an entirely new board. This would insure con- 
tinuity. Another plan for a county board would be 
to have the presidents of the district boards act as a 
county board of education. Such a board should be 
authorized — and indeed this tradition should be 
established — to select a county superintendent from 
applicants from outside as well as inside the county. 
They should be empowered to go anywhere in the 
country for a superintendent with a reputation in 
the teaching profession. This is the present plan in 
cities, and it should be true also in the selection of a 
county superintendent. 

The Term. — The term of ofhce of the county super- 
intendent should be at the discretion of the county 
board. It should be not less than three or four years 
— of sufficient length to enable a man to carry out a 
line of policy in educational administration. The 
status of the county superintendency should be simi- 
lar to that of the city superintendency. 

Assistants. — The county board should be empowered 
to provide assistants for the county superintendent. 
There should be one such assistant for about thirty 
or thirty-five schools. It is almost impossible for a 
supervisor to do efficient and effective work if he 
has more than this number of schools, located, as 
they are, some distance apart. Provision for such 
assistants, who should, like the superintendent him- 
self, be experts, is based upon the assumption that 



RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 135 

supervision is worth while, and in fact necessary in 
any system if success is to be attained. If the super- 
vision of thirty-five schools is an important piece of 
work it should be well done, and a person well quali- 
fied for that work should be selected. He should be 
a person of sympathetic attitude, of high qualifica- 
tions, and of experience in the field of elementary 
education. The assistants should be carefully selected 
by the board on the recommendation of the county 
superintendent. Poor supervision is little better than 
none. 

The Schools Examined. — The county superintendent 
and his assistants should give, periodically, oral and 
written examinations in each school, thus testing the 
work of both the teacher and the pupils. These 
examinations should not conform in any perfunctory 
or red-tape manner to a literally construed course of 
study. The course of study is a means and not an 
end, and should be, at all points and times, elastic and 
adaptable. To make pupils fit the course of study 
instead of making the course of study fit the pupils is 
the old method of the Procrustean bed — if the person 
is not long enough for it he is stretched; if too long, 
a piece is cut off. Any examination or tests which 
would wake up mind and stimulate education in the 
neighborhood may be resorted to; but it should be 
remembered that examinations are likewise a means 
and not an end. 

Some years ago when I was a county superintendent 



136 RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 

I tried the plan of giving such tests in any subject 
to classes that had completed a definite portion of 
that subject and arrived at a good stopping place. 
If, for example, the teacher announced that his class 
had acquired a thorough knowledge of the multiplica- 
tion table, I gave a searching test upon that subject 
and issued a simple little certificate to the effect that 
the pupil had completed it. These little certificates 
acted like stakes put down along the way, to give in- 
centive, direction, and definiteness to the educative 
processes, and to stimulate a reasonable class spirit or 
individual rivalry. I meet these pupils occasionally 
now — they are to-day grown men and women — -and 
they retain in their possession these Httle colored 
certificates which they still highly prize. 

One portion of my county was populated almost 
entirely by Scandinavians, and here a list of fifty to 
a hundred words was selected which Scandinavian 
children always find it difficult to pronounce. At 
the first trial many or most of the children mispro- 
nounced a large percentage of them. I then an- 
nounced that, the next time I visited the school, 
I would test the pupils again on these words and 
others like them, and issue "certificates of correct 
pronunciation" to all who were entitled to them. I 
found, on the next visit, that nearly all the children 
could secure these certificates. These tests created a 
great impetus in the direction of correct pronunciation 
and language. Some teachers, from mistaken kindness. 



RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 137 

had been accustomed to refrain from correcting the 
children on such words, but as superintendent I found 
that both the parents and the children wished drill 
in pronunciation and were gratified at their success. 
This is only a sample. I would advocate the giving 
of tests, or examinations, on any subject in the school 
likely to lead to good results and to stimulate the 
minds of the pupils in the right direction. The county 
superintendent and his assistants might agree to lay 
the accent or the emphasis on different subjects, or 
lines of work, in different years. 

Keep Down Red Tape. — In all the work of super- 
vision, the formal part — the accounting and reporting 
part — should be kept simple; the tendency everywhere 
in administrative offices is in the direction of com- 
plexity and red tape. There seems to be so much 
form merely for the sake of form, everywhere, that 
it is worth while to sound a note of warning against it. 

Help the Social Centers. — The county superin- 
tendent and his assistants can be of inestimable value 
in all the work of the social centers. They should 
advise with school boards in regard to consolidation 
and other problems agitating the community. They 
should lend a helping hand to programs that are being 
carried out in any part of the county. They should 
give lectures themselves at such social centers and, 
if asked, should help the local communities and local 
committees in every way within their power. 

Conclusion. — The problem, then, of superintend- 



138 RURAL SCHOOL SUPERVISION 

ence is, we conclude, one of the large and important 
problems awaiting solution in rural life and in rural 
schools. It is the binding force that will help to unify 
all the educational activities of the county. It is 
one of the chief stimulating and uplifting influences in 
rural education. As in the case of most other school 
problems, the constant surprise is that the people 
have not awakened sooner to the realization of its 
importance and to an honest and earnest attempt at 
its solution. 



CHAPTER XII 
LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 

The Real Leader. — Real leadership is a scarce and 
choice article; true leaders are few and far between. 
The best kind of leader is not one who attempts to 
be at the head of every movement and to do every- 
thing himself, but rather he who makes the greatest 
number of people active in his cause. It frequently 
happens that the more a leader does himself, the less 
his followers are inclined to do. The more active 
he is, the more passive they are likely to become. 
As teaching is causing others to know and react edu- 
cationally, so genuine leadership is causing others 
to become active in the direction of the leader's pur- 
pose, or aim. Some who pose as leaders seek to be 
conspicuous in every movement, merely to attract 
attention to themselves. They bid for direct and 
immediate recognition instead of being content with 
the more remote, indirect, but truer and more sub- 
stantial reward of recognition through their followers 
who are active in their leader's cause. The poor 
leader does not think that there is glory enough for 
all, and so he monopolizes all he can of it, leaving the 
remainder to those who probably do the greater part 

139 



I40 LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 

of the work and deserve as much credit as he. The 
spectacular football player who ignores the team 
and team work, in order to attract attention by his 
individual plays, is not the best leader or the best 
player. The real leader will frequently be content 
to see things somewhat poorly done or not so well 
done, in order that his followers may pass through 
the experience of doing them. It is only by having 
such experiences that followers are enabled, in turn, 
to become leaders. 

Teaching vs. Telling. — As has been shown in an 
earlier chapter, the lack of leadership is frequently 
exhibited in the classroom when the teacher, instead 
of inducing self-activity and self-expression on the 
part of the pupils, proceeds to recite the whole lesson 
himself. He asks leading questions and then, at the 
slightest hesitation on the part of a pupil, he suggests 
the answer; he asks another leading question from 
another point of view; he puts words into the mouth 
of the pupil who is trying in a pitiable way to recite; 
and ends by covering the topic all over with words, 
words, words of his own. This is poor leadership 
on the part of the teacher and gives no opportunity 
for real cooperation on the part of the pupils. The 
teacher takes all the glory of reciting, and leaves the 
pupil without an opportunity or the reward of self- 
expression. 

Enlisting the Cooperation of Pupils. — All children 
— and in fact all people — if approached or stimulated 



LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 14 1 

in the proper way — like to do things, to perform 
services for others. A pupil always considers it a 
compliment to be asked by his teacher to do some- 
thing for him, if the relations between the teacher and 
pupil are normal and cordial. This must, of course, 
be the case if any truly educative response is to be 
elicited. Socrates once said that a person cannot 
learn from one whom he does not love. The relation 
between pupil and teacher should be one of mutual 
love and respect, if the educational process is to 
obtain. If this relation does not exist, the first duty 
of the teacher is to bring it about. Sometimes this 
is difficult. I once heard a teacher say that it took 
him about three weeks to establish this relation be- 
tween himself and one of his pupils. He finally in- 
vited the pupil out hunting with him one Saturday, 
and after that they were the best of friends. The 
pupil became one of the leaders in his school and his 
cooperation was secured from that time forward. 
In this instance the teacher showed marked leadership 
as well as practical knowledge of psychology and 
pedagog}^ Francis Murphy, the great temperance 
orator, understood both leadership and cooperation, 
for he always, as he said, made it a point to approach 
a man from the "south side." 

A pupil, if approached in the right way, will do 
anything in his power for his teacher. There may be 
times when wood or fuel must be provided, when the 
room must be swept and cleaned, when little repairs 



142 LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 

become necessary, or an errand must be performed. In 
such situations, if the teacher is a real leader and 
if his school and he are en rapport, volunteers will 
vie with each other for the privilege of carrying out 
the teacher's wishes. This would indicate genuine 
leadership and cooperation. 

Placing Responsibility. — Whether in school or some 
other station in life, there is scarcely anything that 
so awakens and develops the best that is in either man 
or child as the placing of responsibility. Every person 
is educated and made greater according to the measure 
of responsibility that is given to him and that he is 
able to live up to. While it is true that too great a 
measure of responsibility might be given, this is no 
reasonable excuse for withholding it altogether for 
fear the burden would be too great. There is a wide 
middle ground between no responsibility and too 
much of it, and it is in this field that leader- 
ship and cooperation can be displayed to much ad- 
vantage. The greater danger lies in not giving 
sufficient responsibility to children and youths. It 
is well known that, in parts of our country, where 
men who have been proved to be, or are strongly sus- 
pected of being crooked, have been placed upon the 
bench to mete out justice, they have usually risen to 
the occasion and to their better ideals, and have not 
betrayed the trust reposed in them, or the responsi- 
bility placed upon them. There is probably no finer 
body of men in America than our railroad engineers; 



LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 143 

and while it may be true that they are picked in a 
measure, it is also true that their responsible posi- 
tions and work bring out their best manhood. As 
they sit or stand at the throttle, with hand upon 
the lever and eyes on the lookout for danger, and 
as they feel the heart-throbs of their engine drawing 
its precious freight of a thousand souls through 
the darkness and the storm, they cannot help realiz- 
ing that this is real life invested with great respon- 
sibilities; and with this thought ever before them, 
they become men who can be trusted anywhere. 
There is little doubt that Abraham Lincoln's mettle 
was tempered to the finest quality in the fires of the 
great struggle from i860 to 1865, when every hour of his 
waking days was fraught with the greatest responsibihty. 
How People Remain Children. — If children and 
young people are not given responsibihties they are 
likely to remain children. The old adage, ''Don't 
send a boy to mill," is thoroughly vicious if applied 
beyond a narrow and youthful range. In some 
neighborhoods the fathers even when of an advanced 
age retain entire control of the farm and of all activ- 
ities, and the younger generation are called the "boys," 
and, what is worse, are considered such till forty years 
of age or older — in fact as long as the fathers live and 
are active. A "boy" is called "Johnnie," "Jimmie," 
or "Tommie," and is never chosen to do jury duty or 
to occupy any position connected in the local public 
mind with a man's work. The father in such cases is 



144 LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 

not a good leader, for he has given no responsibility to, 
and receives no genuine cooperation from, his sons, 
who are really man grown, but who are regarded, 
even by themselves, from habit and suggestion, as 
children. If these middle-aged men should move to 
another part of the country they would be compelled 
to stand upon their own feet, and would be regarded 
as men among men. They would be called Mr. 
Jones, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Brown, instead of dimin- 
utive and pet names; and, what is better, they would 
regard themselves as men. This would be a whole- 
some and stimulating suggestion. Hence Horace 
Greeley's advice to young men, to "Go West," would 
prove beneficial in more ways than one. 

This state of affairs is illustrated on a large scale 
by the Chinese life and civilization. From time im- 
memorial the Chinese have been taught to regard 
themselves as children, and the emperor as the common 
father of all. The head of the family is the head as long 
as he lives and all his descendants are mere sons and 
daughters. When he dies he is the object of worship. 
This custom has tended to influence in a large measure 
the thought and life of China and to keep the Chinese, 
for untold generations, a childlike and respectful 
people. Whatever may come to pass under the new 
regime, recently established in their country, they 
have been, since the dawn of history, a passive people, 
the majority of whom have not been honored with any 
great measure of responsibility. 



LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 145 

On the Farm. — Such lessons from history, written 
large, are as applicable in rural life as elsewhere. 
Cooperation and profit-sharing are probably the 
key to the solution of the labor problem. Many 
industrial leaders in various lines, notably Mr. Henry 
Ford in his automobile factories in Detroit, have come 
to the conclusion that cooperation, or some kind of 
profit-sharing by the rank and file of the workers, is 
of mutual benefit to employer and laborer. The 
interest of workers must be enlisted for their own 
good as well as for the good of society at large. It 
induces the right attitude toward work on the part of 
the worker, and the right attitude of employer and 
employee toward each other. This leads to the sol- 
idarity of society and the integrity of the social bond. 
It tends to establish harmony and to bring content- 
ment to both parties. 

Renters. — The renter of a farm must have sufficient 
interest in it and in all its activities to improve it in 
every respect, rather than to allow it to deteriorate 
by getting out of it everything possible, and then 
lea\dng it, like a squeezed orange, to repeat the opera- 
tion elsewhere. A farm, in order to yield its best and to 
increase in production and value, must be managed 
with care, foresight, and scientific understanding. There 
must be, among other things, a careful rotation of crops 
and the rearing of good breeds of animals of various 
kijids. But these things cannot be intrusted to the mere 
renter or the hired man who is nothing more. These 

Rural Life — 10 



146 LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 

are not sufficiently interested. The man who suc- 
cessfully manages a farm must be interested in it and 
in its various phases, whether he be a renter or a worker. 
He must be careful, watchful, industrious, intelligent, 
and a lover of domestic animals; otherwise the farm 
will go backward and the stock will not thrive and be 
productive of profits. The man who drives a farm 
to a successful issue must be a leader, and, if he is 
not the owner, he must cooperate with the owner 
in order that there may be interest, which is the great 
essential. 

The Owner. — If the farm is operated by the owner 
himself and his family, there is still greater need of 
leadership on the part of the father and of cooperation 
on the part of all. Money and profits are not the only 
motives or the only results and rewards that come to 
a family in rural life. As the children grow up to 
adult life, both boys and girls, for their own education 
and development in leadership and in cooperation, 
should be given some share in the business, some 
interest which they can call their own, and whose 
success and increase will depend on their attention, 
care, and industry. That father is a wise leader who 
can enlist the active cooperation of all his family 
for the good of each and of all. Such leadership 
and cooperation are the best forms and means 
of education, and lead inevitably to good citizenship. 
How often do we see a grasping, churlish father whose 
leadership is maintained by fear and force and whose 



LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 147 

family fade away, one by one, as they come to adoles- 
cence. There is no cementing force in such a household, 
and the centrifugal forces which take the place of 
true leadership and cordial cooperation soon do their 
work. 

The Teacher as a Leader. — We have already 
spoken of the teacher as the natural leader of the 
activities of a social center, or of a community. In 
such situations the teacher should be a real leader, 
not one who wishes or attempts to be the direct and 
actual leader in every activity, but one "who gets 
things done" through the secondary leadership of a 
score or more of men, boys, and girls. The leader 
in a consolidated district, or social center, who should 
attempt to bring all the glory upon himself by im- 
mediate leadership would be like the teacher who 
insists on doing all the reciting for his pupils. That 
would be a false and short-lived leadership. Hence 
the teacher who is a true leader will keep himself 
somewhat in the background while, at the same 
time, he is the hidden mainspring, the power behind 
the throne. "It is the highest art to conceal art." 
Fitch, in his lectures on teaching, says that the teacher 
and the leader should "keep the machinery in the 
background." The teacher should start things going 
by suggestion and keep them going by his presence, 
his attitude, and his silent participation. 

Too much participation and direction are fatal to the 
active cooperation and secondary leadership of others. 



1 48 LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 

Hence the teacher will bring about, in his own good 
time and way, the organization of a baseball team 
under the direction of a captain chosen by the boys. 
The choice, it is true, may probably be inspired by 
the teacher. The same would take place in regard 
to every game, sport, or activity, mental, social, or 
physical, in the community. The danger always is 
that the initial leader may become too dominant. It 
is hard on flesh and blood to resist the temptation to 
be lionized. But it is incomparably better to have 
partial or almost total failures under self-government 
than to be governed by a benevolent and beneficent 
autocrat. And so it is much better that boys and girls 
work out their own salvation under leaders of their 
o\ATi choice, than to be told to organize, and to do 
thus and so. It requires a rare power of self-control 
in a real leader to be compelled to witness only partial 
success and crude performance under secondary 
leaders groping toward success, and still be silent and 
patient. But this is the true process of education — 
self-activity and self-government. 

Self-activity and Self-government. — In order to 
develop initiative, which is the same thing, prac- 
tically, as leadership, opportunity must be given for 
free self-activity. Children and adults alike, if they 
are to grow, must be induced to do. It is always better 
to go ahead and blunder than to stand still for fear of 
blundering. Many kind mothers fondly wish — and 
frequently attempt to enforce their wish — that chil- 



LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 149 

dren should learn how to swim without going into the 
water. Children see the folly of this and, in order 
not to disturb the calm and peace of the household, 
slip away to a neighboring creek or swimming-hole, 
for which they ever after retain the most cherished 
memories. In later years when all danger is over 
these grown-up children smilingly and jokingly reveal 
the mysteries of the trick! Children cannot learn 
to climb trees without climbing trees, or to ride calves 
and colts without the real animals. Some chances must 
be taken by parents and guardians, and more chances 
are usually taken by children than their guardians 
ever hear of. Accidents will happen, it is true, but 
in the wise provision of Mother Nature the world 
moves on through these persistent and instinctive 
self-activities. 

Self-activity is manifested on a larger scale in society 
and among nations and peoples. Civilization is 
brought about through self-activity and cooperation. 
It were better for the Filipinos to civilize themselves 
as much as possible than that we impose civilization 
upon them. It is better that Mexico bring peace 
into her own household, than that we take the leader- 
ship and enforce order among her people. When the 
Irish captain said to his soldiers, "If you don't obey 
willingly I'll make you obey willingly," he fused 
into one the military and the truly civic and educa- 
tional conceptions. An individual or a nation must 
energize from within outward in order to truly ex- 



I50 LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 

press itself and thus develop in the best sense. Hence 
in any community the development of self-expression, 
self-activity, and cooperation under true leadership 
is conducive to the highest type of individuality and 
of citizenship. 

Taking Laws upon One's Self. — It is under proper 
leadership and cooperation that children and young 
people are induced to take laws upon themselves. 
It is always a joy to a parent or a teacher when a 
pupil expresses himself with some emotion to the 
effect that such and such a deed is an "outrage," 
or "fine" as the case may be. It is an indication 
that he has adopted a life principle which he means 
to'live by, and that it has been made his own to such 
an extent that he expresses and commits himself upon 
it with such feeling. Moralization consists in just 
this process — the taking upon one's self of a bundle 
of good life principles. Under the right kind of 
leadership and cooperation this moralizing process 
grows most satisfactorily. Children then take upon 
themselves laws and become self-governing and law- 
abiding. 

An Educational Column. — One of the best means 
of creating an atmosphere and spirit of education 
and culture in a community is to conduct an "edu- 
cational column" in the local newspaper. The teacher 
as a real leader in the community could furnish the 
matter for such a column once every two weeks or once 
a month, and, before long, if he is the leader we speak 



LEADERSHIP AND COOPERATION 151 

of, the people will begin to look eagerly for this column ; 
they will turn to it first on receiving their paper. 
Here items of interest on almost any subject might 
be discussed. The column need not be limited nar- 
rowly to technically educational topics. The author 
of such a column could thus create and build up in a 
community the right kind of traditions and a good 
spirit, tone, and temper generally. His influence 
would be potent outside the schoolroom and he 
would have in his power the shaping and the guiding 
of the social, or community mind. It is wonderful 
what can be done in this way by a prudent, intelligent, 
and interesting writer. The community soon will wish, 
after the column has been read through, that he had 
written more. This would be an encouraging sign. 

All Along the Educational Line. — The kind of 
leadership and cooperation indicated in this chapter 
should be exemplified through the entire common- 
school system. It should obtain between the state 
superintendent and the county superintendents; be- 
tween the county superintendents and their deputies, 
or assistants on the one hand and the principals of 
schools on the other; between principals and teachers; 
and between teachers and pupils. It should exist 
between all of these officials and the people variously 
organized for social and educational betterment. 
Then there would be a "long pull, a strong pull, and 
a pull all together" for the solution of the problems 
of rural life and the rural school. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE FARMER AND HIS HOME 

Farming in the Past. — In the past, successful farm- 
ing was easier than it is at present or is destined to 
be in the future. In the prairie regions of the great 
central West, the virgin and fertile soil, the large 
acreage of easy cultivation, and the good prices made 
success inevitable. Indeed, these conditions were 
thrust upon the fortunate farmer. 

But those days are passed. Increased population 
is reducing the acreage and cultivation, while it is 
eliminating the surplus fertility; competition and 
social and economic pressure are reducing the margin 
of profits. Thrift, good management, and brains are 
becoming increasingly important factors in successful 
farming. 

Old Conceit and Prejudice. — Twenty years ago, 
when the agricultural colleges were taking shape and 
attempting to impress their usefulness upon the farmer, 
the latter usually assumed a sneering and defiant 
attitude, and referred to their graduates as "silk- 
stocking farmers "^or, as one farmer put it, "theat- 
rical" sort of fellows, meaning theoretical! In the 
farming of the future, however, the agricultural college 

152 



THE FARMER AND HIS HOME 153 

and its influence are bound to play a large part. 
There is plenty of room on a good farm of one hundred 
and sixty acres for the best thinking and the most 
careful planning. Foresight and ingenuity of the 
rarest kinds are demanded there. 

We wish to enumerate, and discuss in brief, some of 
the important points of vantage to be watched and 
carefully guarded, if farm life, which means rural life, 
is to be pleasant and profitable. If rural life is to 
retain its attractions and its people, it must be both 
of these. Let us, in this chapter, investigate some 
things which, although apart from the school and 
education in any technical sense, are truly educative, 
in the best sense. 

Leveling Down. — One thing that impresses all who 
visit the country and the ordinary farm homes is 
that there is noticeable in many who live in the country 
a kind of "leveling down" process. People become 
accommodated to their rather quiet and unexciting 
surroundings. Their houses and barns, in the way of 
repairs and improvements, are allowed gradually to 
succumb to the tooth of time and the beating of the 
elements. This process is so slow and insidious 
that those who live in the midst of it scarcely notice 
the decay that is taking place. Hence it continues 
to grow worse until it gives the farm premises a very 
unattractive and dilapidated appearance. Weeds 
grow up all around the buildings and along the roads, 
so slowly, that they remain unnoticed and hence 



154 THE FARMER AND HIS HOME 

uncut — when half an hour's work might suffice to 
destroy them all, to the benefit of the farm and its 
improved appearance. 

In the country the tendency, as we have said, is to 
"level down." People live in comparative isolation; 
imitation, comparison, and competition enter but 
little into their thoughts and occupations. In the 
city it is otherwise. People live in close proximity 
to each other, and one enterprising person can start 
a neighborhood movement for the improvement of 
lawns and houses. There is more conference, more 
criticism and comparison, more imitation. In the 
city the tendency is to "level up." 

When one moves from a large active center to a 
smaller one, the life tendency is to accommodate 
one's self to his environment; while if one moves 
from a small, quiet place to a larger and more active 
center, the life tendency is to level up. It is, of course, 
fortunate for us that we are able to accommodate 
ourselves to our environment and to derive a growing 
contentment from the process. The prisoner may 
become so content in his cell that he will shed tears 
when he is compelled to leave it for the outer world 
where he must readjust himself. The college man, over 
whom there came a feeling of desolation on settling 
down in a small country village with one store, comes 
eventually to find contentment, sitting on the counter 
or on a drygoods box, swapping stories with others 
like himself who have leveled down to a very circum- 



THE FARMER AND HIS HOME 155 

scribed life and living. Leveling down may be accom- 
plished without effort or thought, but eternal vigilance 
is the price of leveling up. 

Premises Indicative. — A farmer is known by the 
premises he keeps, just as a person is known by the 
company he keeps. If a man is thrifty it will find ex- 
pression in the orderliness of his place. If he is intelli- 
gent and inventive it will show in the appointments and 
adaptations everywhere apparent, inside and outside the 
buildings. If the man and his family have a fine 
sense of beauty and propriety, an artistic or aesthetic 
sense, there will be evidences of cleanliness and simple 
beauty everywhere — in the architecture, in the paint- 
ing, in the pictures, and the carpets, in the kinds and 
positions of the trees and shrubbery, and in the 
general neatness and cleanUness of the premises. 
It is not so necessary that people possess much, but it 
is important that they make much of what they do 
possess. The exquisite touch on all things is analogous 
to the flavor of our food — it is as important for appe- 
tite and for nourishment as the food itself. 

Conveniences by Labor-saving Devices. — If there are 
ingenuity and the power of ordinary invention in 
common things, system and devices for saving labor 
will be evident everywhere. The motor will be 
pressed into service in various ways. There will 
be a place for everything, and everything will be in 
its place. Head work and invention, rather than mere 
imitation, characterize the activities of the master. 



156 THE FARMER AND HIS HOME 

Eggs in Several Baskets. — The day is past when 
success may be attained by raising wheat alone. 
This was, of course, in days gone by, the easiest and 
cheapest crop to produce. It was also the crop that 
brought the largest returns in the shortest time. 
Wheat raising was merely a summer's job, with a 
prospective winter's outing in some city center. It 
was and is still the lazy farmer's trick. It was an 
effort similar to that of attempting the invention of 
a perpetual motion machine; it was an attempt, if 
not to get something for nothing, at least to get some- 
thing at the lowest cost, regardless of the future. 
But nature cannot be cheated, and the modern farmer 
has learned or is learning rapidly, that he must rotate 
and diversify his crops if he would succeed in the long 
run. Consequently he has begun rotation. He also 
replenishes his soil with nitrogen-producing legumes, 
along with corn planting and with summer fallowing. 
He engages in the raising of chickens, hogs, cattle, 
and horses. This diversification saves him from total 
loss in case of a bad year in one line. The farmer 
does not carry all his eggs in one basket. A bad year 
with one kind of crops may be a good year with some 
other. Diversification also makes farming an all- 
year occupation, every part of which is bringing a 
good return, instead of being a job with an in- 
come for the summer and an outlay for the winter. 
Live stock, sheep, hogs, and cattle grow nights, 
Sundays, and winters as well as at other times, 



THE FARMER AND HIS HOME IS7 

and so the profits are accumulating all the year 
round. 

The Best is the Cheapest. — The modern farmer also 
realizes that it takes no more, nor indeed as much, to 
feed and house the best kinds of animals than it 
does to keep the scrub varieties. In all of this there 
is a large field for study and investigation. But 
one must be interested in his animals and understand 
them. They should know his voice and he should 
know their needs and their habits. As in every other 
kind of work there must be a reasonable interest; 
otherwise it cannot be an occupation which will make 
life happy and successful. 

Good Work. — The good farmer has the J eel and the 
habit of good work. The really successful man in 
any calling or profession is he who does his work 
conscientiously and as well as he can. The sloven 
becomes the bungler, and the bungler is on the high 
road to failure. It is always a pleasant thing to see 
a man do his work well and artistically. It is the habit, 
the policy, the attitude of thus doing that tell in the 
long run. A farmer may by chance get a good crop 
by seeding on unplowed stubble land, but he must 
feel that he is engaged in the business of trying to 
cheat himself, like the boy playing solitaire — he does 
not let his right hand know what his left hand is 
doing. The good farmer is an artist in his work, 
while the poor farmer is a veritable bungler — blaming 
his tools and Nature herself for his failures. 



158 THE FARMER AND HIS HOME 

Good Seed and Trees.^ — The successful farmer 
knows from study and experience that only healthy seed 
and healthy animals will produce good grain and strong 
animals after their kind. He does not try tricks on 
Nature. He selects the best kinds of trees and shrub- 
bery and when these are planted he takes care of them. 
He realizes that what is worth sowing and planting is 
worth taking care of. 

A Good Caretaker. — The successful and intelligent 
farmer keeps all his buildings, sheds, and fences in 
good repair and well painted. He is not penny- wise 
and pound-foolish. He knows the value of paint from 
an economic and financial point of view as well as 
from an artistic and aesthetic one. Knowing these 
things, and from an ingrained feeling and habit, he 
sees to it that all his machinery and tools are under 
good cover, and are not exposed to the gnawing 
tooth of the elements. This habit and attitude of 
the man are typical and make for success as well 
as for contentment. As it is not the saving of a par- 
ticular dollar that makes a man thrifty or wealthy, 
but the habit of saving dollars; so it is not the taking 
care of this or that piece of machinery, or that par- 
ticular building, but the habit of doing such things 
that leads him to success. 

Family Cooperation. — Such a man will also enlist 
the interest and the active cooperation of his sons 
and daughters by giving them property or interests 
which they can call their own; he will make them, in a 



THE FARMER AND HIS HOME 159 

measure, co-partners with him on the farm. There 
could be no better way of developing in them their 
best latent talents. It would result in mutual profit 
and, what is better, in mutual love and happiness. 
One of the greatest factors in a true education is to 
be interested, self-active, and busy toward a definite 
and worthy end. Under such circumstances both the 
parents and the children might be benefited by taking 
short courses in the nearest agricultural college; and a 
plan of giving each his turn could be worked out to the 
interest and profit of all the family. Such a family 
would become local leaders in various enterprises. 

An Ideal Life. — It would seem that such an intelli- 
gent and successful farmer and his family could lead 
an ideal life. Every life worth while must have work, 
disappointments, and reverses. But work — reason- 
able work — is a blessing and not a curse. Work is 
an educator, a civilizer, a sanctifier. 

A family like that described might in the course of 
a few years possess most of the modern conveniences. 
The telephone, the daily mail, the automobile, and 
other inventions are at hand, in the country as well 
as in the city. The best literature of to-day and of all 
time is available. Music and art are easily within 
reach. With these advantages any rural family may 
have a happy home. This is more than most people 
in the cities can have. More and more of our 
people should turn in the future to this quiet but 
happy and ideal country life. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE RURAL RENAISSANCE 

Darkest Before the Dawn. — Prior to the present 
widespread discussion, which it is hoped will lead to 
a rural renaissance, the condition and the prospects of 
country life and the country school looked dark and 
discouraging. Country life seemed to be passing 
into the shadow and the storm. It seemed as if the 
country was being not only deserted but forgotten. 
The urban trend, as we have seen, moved on apace. 
Farms were being deserted or, if cultivated at all, 
were passing more and more into the hands of renters. 
The owners were farming by proxy. This meant 
decreased production and impoverished soil. It meant 
one-crop, or small-grain farming; it meant a class of 
renters or tenants with only temporary homes, and 
hence with only a partial interest. The inevitable 
result would be an impoverished rural life and poor 
rural schools. Without a realization of the seriousness 
of the situation and the trend on the part of the people 
at large, all these conditions prevailed to a greater 
or less extent. The people seemed unaware of the 
fact that rural life was not keeping pace with the pro- 
gress of the world around. In New England whole 

1 60 



THE RURAL RENAISSANCE l6l 

districts were practically deserted, and her abandoned 
farms told the tale. In Virginia and in most of the 
older states similar conditions existed. The people 
migrated either to the cities or to the newer and 
cheaper agricultural regions of the West. 

The Awakening. — But the time came when the 
newer lands were not so available and when social 
and economic pressure forced the whole problem of 
rural life upon the attention of the nation. Difficulty 
in adjustment to surroundings always constitutes a 
problem, and a problem always arouses thought. 
When our adjustment is easy and successful it is 
effected largely through habit; but when it is obstructed 
or thwarted, thought and reason must come to the 
rescue. Investigation, comparison, and reflection are 
then drafted for a solution. This is what happened 
a few years ago. The whole situation, it is true, had 
been in mind previously, but only in a half conscious 
or subconscious way. It was being felt or sensed, 
more or less clearly, that there was something 
wrong, that there w^as a great unsupplied need, in 
rural life; but the thought had no definite shape. 
The restiveness, the restlessness, was there but no 
distinct and articulate voices gave utterance to any 
definite policy or determination. There was no 
clearly formulated consensus of thought as to what 
ought to be done. Prior to this time the thought of 
the people had not been focused on country life at all. 
The attention of the rural districts was not on them- 

Rural Life — ii 



1 62 THE RURAL RENAISSANCE 

selves; they were not really self-conscious of their 
condition or that there was any important problem 
before them. But not many years ago, owing to 
various movements, which were both causes and effects, 
the whole country began to be aroused to the impor- 
tance of the subjects which I have been discussing. 
The Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools appointed 
by the National Educational Association had reported 
the phases of the rural life problem in 1897; but many 
declarations and reports of that kind are necessary 
to stir the whole country. Hence no decisive move- 
ment, even in rural education, became noticeable 
for several years. But this report did much good; 
it not only formulated educational thought and policy 
in regard to the subject but it also awakened thought 
and discussion outside of the teaching profession. 

The Agricultural Colleges. — The agricultural col- 
leges and experimental stations in the several states 
had also been active for some years and had formu- 
lated a body of knowledge in regard to agricultural 
principles and methods. They had distributed this 
information widely among the farmers of the country. 
The latter, at first, looked askance at these colleges 
and their propaganda, and often refused to accept 
their suggestions and advice on the ground that it 
was "mere theory," and that farmers could not be 
taught practical agriculture by mere "book men" 
and "theorizers." The practical man often despises 
theory, not realizing that practice without theory 



THE RURAL RENAISSANCE 163 

is usually blind. But the growing science of agri- 
culture was working like a leaven for the improve- 
ment of farm life in all its phases, and to-day the 
agricultural colleges and experiment stations are the 
well-springs of information for practical farmers 
everywhere. Bulletins of information are published 
and distributed regularly, and farmers are being 
brought into closer and closer touch with these in- 
stitutions. 

Conventions. — During this awakening period, con- 
ventions of various kinds are held, which give the 
farmers an opportunity to hear and to participate 
in discussions pertaining to the problems with which 
they are wrestling. They come together in district, 
county, or state conventions, and the result has been 
that a class consciousness, an esprit de corps, is being 
developed. Farmers hear and see bigger and better 
things; their world is enlarged and their minds are 
stimulated; they are induced to think in larger units. 
Thought, like water, seeks its level, and in conventions 
of this kind the individual "levels up." He goes home 
inspired to do better and greater things, and spreads 
the new gospel among his neighbors. At the con- 
ventions he hears a variety of topics discussed, in- 
cluding good roads, house plans, sanitation, schools, 
and others too numerous to mention. 

Other Awakening Agencies. — The agricultural paper, 
which practically every farmer takes and which every 
farmer should take, brings to the farm home each week 



1 64 THE RURAL RENAISSANCE 

the most modern findings on all phases of country 
life. The rural free delivery and the parcel post 
bring the daily mail to the farmer's door. The rural 
telephone is becoming general, and also the automobile 
and other rapid and convenient modes of communica- 
tion and transportation. All these things have helped to 
develop a clearer consciousness of country Ufe, its prob- 
lems and its needs. 

The Farmer in Politics. — Add to all the foregoing 
considerations the fact that, in every state legislature 
and in Congress, the number of rural representatives 
is constantly increasing, and we see clearly that the 
country districts are awakening to a realization not 
only of their needs but of their rights. All of these 
conditions have helped to turn the eyes of the whole 
people, in state and nation, to long neglected problems. 

The National Commission. — So the various agencies 
and factors enumerated above and others besides, 
all working more or less consciously and all conspiring 
together, finally resulted in the appointment of a 
National Commission on Rural Life, the results 
and findings of which were made the subject of a 
special message from the president to Congress in 
1909. The report of the commission was issued 
from the Government Printing Office in Washington 
as Document Number 705, and should be read by 
every farmer in the country. This commission was 
the resultant of many forces exerted around family 
firesides, in the schoolroom, in the press, on the plat- 



THE RURAL RENAISSANCE 165 

form, in conventions, in legislatures, and in the halls 
of Congress. For the first time in this country, the 
conditions and possibilities of rural life were made the 
subjects of investigation and report to a national body. 
Thus the Commission became thenceforth a potent 
cause of the attention and impetus since given to the 
problems we are discussing. 

Mixed Farming. — In recent years, too, what may be 
called "scientific farming" has become a decided 
"movement" and is now very extensively practiced. 
This includes diversified farming, rotation of crops, 
stock raising, the breeding of improved stock, better 
plowing, and a host of matters connected with the 
farmer's occupation. Thus farming is becoming 
neither a job nor an avocation, but a genuine vocation, 
or profession. It requires for its success all the brains, 
all the ingenuity, all the attention and push that an 
intelligent man can give it; and, withal, it promises 
all the variety, the interest, the happiness, and the 
success that any profession can offer. 

Now Before the Country. — The movement in behalf 
of a richer rural life and of better rural schools is 
now before the country. It is the subject of dis- 
cussion everywhere. It is in the hmelight; the lit- 
erature on the subject is voluminous; books without 
number, on all phases of the subject, are coming 
from the press. Educational papers and magazines, 
and even the lay press, are devoting unstinted space 
to discussions on country life and the rural school. 



1 66 THE RUR.\L RENAISSANCE 

The country has the whole question "on the run," 
with a fair prospect of an early capture. On pages 
182-186 we give a bibliography of a small portion 
of the Hterature on these questions which has come 
out recently. 

Educational Extension. — Within the last few years 
the movement known as "extension work," connected 
with the educational institutions, has had a rapid 
growth. The state universities, agricultural colleges, 
and normal schools in almost every state are doing 
their utmost to carry instruction and education in a 
variety of forms to communities beyond their walls. 
They are vying with each other in their extension 
departments, in extra-mural service of every possible 
kind. In many places institutions are even furnishing 
musical performances and other forms of entertain- 
ment at cost, in competition with the private bureaus, 
thus saving communities the profits of the bureau 
and the expense of the middlemen. The University 
of Wisconsin has been in recent years the leader in 
this extension work. Minnesota, and most of the 
central and western states are active in the cam- 
paign of carrying education and culture to outlying 
communities. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Da- 
kota have recently pooled their forces for some ex- 
change of service in extension work. 

Library Extension Work. — In Wisconsin, the state 
library is under the direction of the university exten- 
sion department, and collections of books, which may 



THE RURAL RENAISSANCE 167 

be retained for a definite length of time, may be se- 
cured by any town or community in the state. In this 
way a library may do excellent service. 

Some Froth. — No doubt some froth will be produced 
by the stirring of the waters which are moving in some 
places with whirlpool rapidity. There is considerable 
sound and fury, no doubt, in the discussions and in 
the things attempted in these uplifting movements. 
There is a considerable amount of smoke in propor- 
tion to the fire beneath. But, even with the froth, 
the noise, and the smoke, there is some latent power, 
some energy, beneath and behind it all. The main 
thing is that the power, the energy, the thought, the 
enthusiasm of the nation have been started on the 
right way. We can discount and overlook the vagaries 
and foibles which will undoubtedly play around the 
outskirts of the movement. Every new movement 
shows similar phenomena. Much will be said, written, 
and done which is mere surface display. But while 
these may do httle good, they will do no harm and 
are indicative of the inner and vital determination 
of the people to confront the difficulties. 

Thought and Attitude.— Our thought and our atti- 
tude make any kind of work or any kind of posi- 
tion desirable and worthy, or the reverse. Many 
vicious leaders poison the minds of workers and make 
them dissatisfied with their work and their employers 
by suggesting a wrong spirit and attitude. We do 
not advocate passive submission to wrongs; nor on 



1 68 THE RURAL RENAISSANCE 

the other hand do we think that the interests of the 
laborer are to be subserved by infusing into his mind 
jealousy and envy and discontent with his lot. 

A young man goes through the practice and games 
of football, enduring exertion and pain which he 
would not allow any other person to force upon him; 
at the same time, he has a song in his heart. On a 
camping trip a person will submit to rigors and priva- 
tions which he would think intolerable at home. 
Whatever is socially fashionable is done with pleasure; 
the mind is the great factor. If one is interested in his 
work, it is pleasant — indeed more enjoyable than play; 
but if there is no interest it is all drudgery and pain. 
The attitude, the motive, the will make all the differ- 
ence in the world. In the rural renaissance, farm life 
may become more and more fashionable. This is by no 
means impossible. Country life has no such rigors as 
the football field or the outing in the wilds. When as 
a people we have passed from the sensuous and erotic 
wave on the crest of which we seem at present to be 
carried along, we can with profit, intellectually, 
morally, socially, and physically, "go forth under the 
open sky and list to Nature's teachings." Everything 
except the present glare of excitement beckons back 
to the land, back to the country. Whether as a 
people we shall effectively check the urban trend, 
will, in the not distant future, test the self-control, 
the foresight, the wisdom, and the character of the 
manhood and womanhood of this nation. 



CHAPTER XV 
A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 

Not Pessimistic. — Some of the early chapters of 
this book may have left the impression that a restora- 
tion, or rejuvenation, of country life, such as will 
reverse the urban trend and make rural life the more 
attractive by comparison, is difficult if not impossible. 
It is difficult we grant; but we do not wish to leave the 
impression that such is improbable, much less im- 
possible. We were simply facing the truth on the 
dark, or negative, side, and were attempting to give 
reasons for conditions and facts which have been 
everywhere apparent. If there are two sides to a 
question both should be presented as they really are. 
It is always as useless and as wrong to minimize as 
it is to exaggerate, and we were simply accounting for 
facts. 

We did not mean that there is no hope. The first 
essential in the solution of any problem or in the 
improvement of any condition is to get the condition 
clearly and accurately in mind — to conceive it exactly 
as it is. 

There is no doubt that the city, with its material 

169 



I70 A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 

splendor and its social life, has attractions; but if we 
turn to rural life, we shall find, if we go below the sur- 
face of human nature, the strongest appeals to our 
deeper and more abiding interests. The surface of 
things and the present moment are near to us, and 
powerful in the way of motivation. These, however, 
are the aspects of human environment which appeal 
most strongly to the child, to the savage, and to the 
uneducated person. If we are optimists, believing 
that the race is progressing, and that our own people 
and country are progressing as rapidly as or more rap- 
idly than any other, we must believe that motives which 
appeal to our deeper, saner, and more disciplined 
nature will win out in the long run. Let us see, then, 
what some of the appeals to this saner stratum of 
human nature, in behalf of rural life, are. 

Fewer Hours of Labor than Formerly. — The hours 
of labor have been reduced everywhere. In the olden 
time labor was done by slaves or serfs, and neither 
their bodies nor their time was their own. They la- 
bored when, where, and as long as their masters dic- 
tated. Even a generation ago there was little said, 
and there was no uniformity, as to how long a working- 
man should labor. In busy seasons or on important 
pieces of work, he labored as long as the light of day 
permitted. It was from sun to sun, and often long 
after the sun had disappeared from the western 
horizon. Sixteen hours was no uncommon day for 
him. Under such conditions there was no room for 



A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 171 

mental, social, or spiritual advancement. Later, 
the hours were reduced to a maximum of fourteen. 
The idea spread and the labor unions brought about 
a uniformity and a further decrease in hours. This 
standardizing of the day of labor, while not general 
in the country, had its effect. The twelve-hour day, 
while still long, was a decided betterment over the 
sixteen-hour day. There was beginning to be a little 
possible margin for social, mental, and recreational 
activity. But the twelve-hour day must inevitably 
get the better of the human system and of the spirit 
of man. It is too long and too steady a grind, and 
habit and long hours soon tell their story. They in- 
evitably lead to the condition of the "man with the 
hoe." 

As improvements in machinery were perfected and 
inventions of all kinds multiplied and spread both in 
the factory and on the farm, the ten-hour day was 
ushered in. It was inevitable in this age of inventions 
and improvements. Capital had these inventions 
and improvements in its possession and a laboring 
man could now do twice as much with the same 
labor as formerly. But society as a whole could not 
assent to the theory and the practice that the capital- 
ist, the owner of the machines, should reap all the 
advantages; and so, the hours were reduced to ten, 
then to nine and now, in many occupations, to eight. 
With the aid of inventions and improvements the 
worker, on the average, can do more in the eight hours 



172 A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 

than he did formerly in the sixteen. It is not contended 
that every laborer does this or that every workman 
will do it even if he can. This phase of the question 
is a large factor in the labor problem. But from the 
point of view of the average man and of society, labor 
can produce in eight hours as much as it produced 
formerly in sixteen. This idea has permeated 
rural as well as industrial life, and makes for more 
opportunity and growth, intellectual, moral, and 
social. 

The Mental Factor Growing. — The trend alluded to 
above implies that the mental factor is growing 
larger and larger in occupations of all kinds. Success 
is becoming more and more dependent on knowledge, 
ingenuity, prudence, and foresight. Especially is this 
true on the farm. There is scarcely any calling that 
demands or can make use of such varied talents. 
All fields of knowledge may be drawn upon and utilized, 
from the weather signals to the most recent findings 
and conclusions of science and philosophy. As the 
hours of labor both in the factory and on the farm are 
shortened still more — as is possible — the hours of 
study, of play, and of social converse will be lengthened. 
Indeed this is one of the by-problems of civiliza- 
tion and progress — to see that leisure hours are profit- 
ably spent for the welfare of the individual. In any 
event, the prospect of reasonable hours and of social 
and cultural opportunities in rural life is growing 
from day to day. The intelligent man with modern 



A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 173 

machinery and ordinary capital, if he has made some 
scientific study of agriculture, need have no fear of 
not living a successful and happy life on the farm. A 
knowledge of his calling in all its aspects, with the aid 
of modern machinery, and with sobriety, thrift, and 
industry, will bring a kind of life to both adults and 
children that the crowded factory and tenements 
and the tinsel show of the city cannot give. But 
one must be willing to forego the social and physical 
display of the surface of things and to choose the 
better and more substantial part. If we are a people 
that can do this there is hope for an early and satis- 
factory solution of the problems of rural life. 

The Bright Side of Old-time Country Life. — Even 
in the country life of twenty-five to fifty years ago, 
there was a bright and happy side. It was not all 
dark, and, in its influence for training the youth to a 
strong manhood, we shall probably not look upon its 
like again. If strength and welfare rather than 
pleasure are the chief end of life, many of the experiences 
which were undoubtedly hardships were blessings in 
disguise. Ever}^ boy had his chores and every girl 
her household duties to perform. The cows had to 
be brought home in the evening from the prairie or 
the woods; they had to be milked and cared for; 
calves and hogs had to be fed; horses had to be cared 
for both evening and morning; barns, stables, and sheds 
had to be looked after. All the animals of the farm, 
including the domestic fowls, such as chickens, ducks, 



174 A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 

and turkeys, became our friends and each was in- 
dividually known. 

Though all the duties of farm life had to be done 
honestly and well, nevertheless the farmer's boy found 
time to go fishing and hunting, skating, coasting, and 
trapping. He learned the ways and the habits of 
beasts, birds, and fish. He observed the squirrels 
garnering their winter supply in the fall. He watched 
the shrewd pocket gopher as it came up and deposited 
the contents of its cheek pockets upon the pile of 
fresh dirt beside his hole. He learned how to trap 
the muskrat, and woe to the raccoon that was dis- 
covered stealing the corn, for it was tracked and 
treed even at midnight. The boy's eyes occasionally 
caught sight of a red fox or of a deer; and the call of 
the dove, the drum of the pheasant, the welcome 
"whip-poor-will" and the "to- whit, to- whit, to- who" 
of the owl were familiar sounds. He ranged the 
prairie and the woods; he climbed trees for nuts and 
for distant views, and knew every hill, valley, and 
stream for miles and miles around. Even his daily 
and regular work was of a large and varied kind. 
It was not like the making of one tenth of a pin, which 
has a strong tendency to reduce the worker to one 
tenth of a man. 

On the farm one usually begins and finishes a piece 
of work whether it be a hay-rack or a barn; he sees it 
through — the whole of it receives expression in him. 
It is his piece of work and it faces him as he has to 



A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 175 

face it. The tendency is for both to be "honest." 
If there were so much brightness and variety in days 
gone by, when all work was done by hand, how much 
better the situation can be now and in the future, 
when inventions and machines have come to the 
rescue of the laborer, and when the hours of toil have 
been so materially shortened! 

The Larger Environment. — -There is no doubt that 
a large and varied environment is conducive to the 
growth of a strong and active personality. If one 
has to adjust himself at every turn to something 
new, it will lead to self-activity and initiative, to in- 
genuity and aggressiveness. If tadpoles are reared 
in jars of different sizes, the growth and size of each 
will vary with the size of the vessel, the smallest 
jar growing the smallest tadpole, and the largest jar 
the largest tadpole. It is fighting against the laws of 
fate to attempt to rear strong personalities in a "flat" 
or even in a fifty-foot lot. They need the range of 
the prairies, the hills, and the woods. Shakespeare 
was born and brought up in one of the richest and 
most stimulating environments, natural and social, 
in the world; and this, no doubt, had much to do 
with his matchless abihty to express himself on all 
phases of nature and of mind. Large and varied 
influences, while they do not compel, at least tend 
to produce, large minds; for they leave with us in- 
finite impressions and induce correspondingly varied 
reactions and experiences. Under such conditions a 



176 A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 

child is reacting continually and thus becoming active 
and efficient. He is challenged at every turn, and if 
stumbling blocks become stepping stones, the process 
is the very best kind of education. 

Games. — There are excellent opportunities in the 
country for all kinds of games, for there ample room 
and many incentives to activity present themselves. 
In the city, children are often content with seeing 
experts and professionals give performances or "stunts," 
while they, themselves, remain passive. In the coun- 
try there are not so many attractions and distractions 
— so many dazzling and overwhelmingly "superior" 
things — that children may not be easily induced to 
"get into the game" themselves. I fear that in recent 
years owing to imitation of the city and its life, play 
and games in the country have become somewhat 
obsolete. There needs to be a renaissance in this 
field. We have been offered everywhere in recent 
years so much of what might be called the "finished 
product" that the children are content merely to sit 
around as spectators and watch others give the per- 
formances. 

As in the case of the rural school the play instincts 
of country children must be awakened again in be- 
half of rural life in general. There are scores of games 
and sports, from marbles to football, which should 
receive attention. In recent years the social mind, 
in all sports, seems to be directed to the result, the 
winning or losing, instead of to the game, as a game. 



A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 1 77 

and the fun of it all. True sportsmanship should 
be revived and cultivated. There is no reason why 
there should not be found in every neighborhood, 
and especially at every school center, all kinds of 
plays and games, each in its own time and place 
and having its own patronage — marbles, tops, swings, 
horseshoes, "I spy," anti-over, pull-away, prisoner's 
base, tennis, croquet, volley ball, basketball, skating, 
coasting, skiing, baseball, and football. Horizontal 
bars, turning pole, and other apparatus should be 
provided in every playground. In the social centers, 
if the boys can be organized as Boy Scouts, and the 
girls as Camp-Fire Girls, good results will ensue. 

Many more plays and games will suggest themselves, 
and those for girls should be encouraged as well as 
those for boys. All the aspects of rural life can thus 
be made most enjoyable. It is often weU to introduce 
and cultivate one game at a time, letting it run its 
course, something like a fever, and then, at the psy- 
chological moment, introduce and try out another. 
To introduce too many at one time would not afford 
an opportunity for children to experience the rise 
and fall of a wave of enthusiasm on any one, and this 
is quite important. Usually some direction should be 
given to play, but this direction should not be sup- 
pressive, and should be given by a leader who under- 
stands and sympathizes with child nature. 

Inventiveness in Rural Life. — In the city, where 
everything is manufactured or sold ready-made, a 

Rural Life — 12 



178 A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 

person simply goes to the store and buys whatever he 
needs. In the country this cannot be done, and one 
is driven by sheer necessity to devise ways and means 
of supplying his needs, himself. He simply has to 
invent or devise a remedy. Necessity is the mother 
of invention. 

It is really better for boys and girls in the country 
if their parents are compelled to be frugal and econom- 
ical. If children get anything and everything they 
wish, merely for the asking, they are undone; they 
become weak for lack of self-exertion, self-expression, 
and invention; they become dissatisfied if everything 
is not coming their way from others. They become 
selfish and careless. Having tasted of the best, merely 
for the asking, they become dissatisfied with everything 
except the best. This is the dominant tendency 
in the city and wherever parents are foolish enough 
to satisfy the child's every whim. If the parents 
carry the child in this manner, the child, in later years, 
will have weak legs and the parents will have weak 
backs. Moreover, love and respect move in the direc- 
tion of activity, and if everything comes the child's way 
there will be Httle love, except "cupboard love," 
going the other way. 

It is unfortunate for children to experience the best 
too early in life; there is then no room for growth 
and development. It was Professor James who said 
that the best doll he ever saw was a home-made rag 
doll; it left sufficient room for the play of the imagina- 



A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 179 

tion. With the perfect, factory-made doll there is 
nothing more for the imagination to do; it is complete, 
but it is not the little girl who has completed it. In 
the country, men and women, boys and girls are 
induced to begin and complete all kinds of things. 
Many things have to be made outright and most 
things have to be repaired on the farm. Challenges 
of this kind to inventiveness and activity are outstand- 
ing all the time. Sleds, both large and small, wheel- 
barrows and hay racks, sheds, granaries, and barns 
are both made and repaired. But in all there is no 
mad rush. It is not as it is in the factory or in the 
sawmill. One is not reduced to the instantaneous 
reactions of an automaton; he has time to breathe and 
to think. One can act like a free man rather than 
like a machine. There is room for thought and for 
invention. 

Activity Rather than Passivity. — In this infinite 
variety of stimulation and response, the youth is 
induced to become active rather than passive. While 
he is not pushed unduly, he is reasonably active 
during all his waking hours, and the habit of activity, 
of doing, is ingrained. This is closely related to char- 
acter and morality, to thrift and success. Such a 
person is more likely to be a creditor than a debtor 
to society. In this respect the country and the farm 
have been the salvation of many a youth. 

In the city many children have no regular employ- 
ment; they have no chores to do and no regular 



I So A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL 

occupation. Evenings and vacations find them on 
the streets. Then Satan always finds mischief for 
idle hands to do. These children become passive 
except under the impulses of instinct or of mischievous 
ideas; they have no regular and systematic work to do; 
everything is done for them. During their early years 
habits of idleness, of passive receptivity, of mischief, 
and possibly of crime, are ingrained. And though 
this kind of life may be more pleasurable, in a low 
sense, than the active life of the country, there can be 
no doubt as to which is the more wholesome and 
strengthening. 

Child Labor. — A good child-labor law is absolutely 
essential to the welfare of the children for whom it 
has been enacted; nevertheless, there has been a great 
omission in not providing that idle children shall do 
some work. Even in large cities there are probably 
more children who do not work enough than there are 
who are made to work too hard. In our zeal we some- 
times forbid children to work, when some work would be 
the very best thing for them. It is true that on the 
farm as well as in the factory ignorant and mercenary 
parents make dollars out of the sweat of their children, 
when these should be going to school or engaged in 
physical and mental recreation and development. It is 
unfortunate that society is not able to see to it, that, as 
in Plato's Republic, every child and every person 
engage in the work or study for which he is best fitted, 
and to the extent that is best for him. Then the 



A GOOD PLACE AFTER ALL l8l 

hundreds of thousands of children who are idling 
would be engaged in some kind of occupation, and those 
who are working too hard would be given lighter 
tasks; and all would have the privilege of an appro- 
priate education. 

The Finest Life on Earth. — In view of such circum- 
stances and opportunities, life in the country should 
be, and could he made, the best and most complete 
life possible to a human being. Country life is the 
best cradle of the race. To have a good home and 
rear a family in the heart of a great city is well-nigh 
impossible for the average laboring man. The struggle 
for existence is too fierce and the opportunity, in child- 
hood and youth, for self-expression and initiative is 
too meager. The environment is too vast, complex, 
and overwhelming, with nothing worth while for the 
child to do. "Individuals may stand, but generations 
will slip" on such an inclined plane of life. From this 
point of view it can be truly said, we think, that " God 
made the country while man made the town." 

The real, vital possibilities of country life are without 
number. The surface attractions of the city are most 
alluring. A focusing of the public mind upon the prob- 
lem, its pros and cons, will, it is to be hoped, turn 
the scales without delay in favor of country life and its 
substantial benefits. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The following bibliography is submitted as affording infor- 
mation and suggestive helps to those who are interested in 
the problems herein discussed. Although the books and 
references have been selected with care, it is not to be in- 
ferred that the list includes any considerable portion of the 
vast and still increasing output of literature in this field of 
investigation. But it will prove to be a fairly comprehen- 
sive list from which the reader may select such articles or 
books as make a favorable appeal to him. The works re- 
ferred to are all of recent date, and express the current trend 
of thought upon the problems discussed in this little volume. 

BOOKS 

American Academy of Political and Social Science. Phila- 
delphia, 1912. Vol. XL, No. 129, "Country Life": 
Butterfield, "Rural Sociology as a College DiscipUne"; 
Cance, "Immigrant Rural Communities"; Carver, 
"Changes in Country Population"; Coulter, "Agri- 
cultural. Laborers"; Davenport, "Scientific Farming"; 
Dixon, "Rural Home"; Eyerly, "Cooperative Move- 
ments among Farmers" ; Foght, "The Country 
School"; Gillette, "Conditions and Needs of Country 
Life"; Gray, "Southern Agriculture"; Hartman, "Vil- 
lage Problems " ; Hamilton, "Agricultural Fairs"; Hen- 
derson, "Rural Police"; Hibbard, "Farm Tendency"; 
Kates, "Rural Conferences"; Lewis, "Tramp Prob- 
lem"; Marquis, "The Press"; Mumford, "Education 
for Agriculture"; Parker, "Good Roads"; Pearson, 
"Chautauquas"; Roberts and Israel, "Y. M. C. A."; 
182 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 183 

Scudder, "Rural Recreation"; True, "The Depart- 
ment of Agriculture"; Van Norman, "Conveniences"; 
Watrous, "Civic Art"; Washington, B. T., "The Rural 
Negro Community"; Wilson, "Social Life"; Wells, 
"Rural Church". 

Bailey, L. H.: The Country Life Movement in the U. S. 
(191 2) 220 pp. Macmillan Co., New York. Cyclopedia 
of American Agriculture. 4 vols. $20.00. Macmillan 
Co., New York. The State and the Farmer. (191 1) 
177 pp. Macmillan Co., New York. The Training of 
Farmers. (1909) 263 pp. Century Co., New York. 

Betts, George H.: New Ideals in Rural Schools. (1913) 
127 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 

Brown, H. A.: Readjustment of a Rural High School to the 
Needs of a Community. (191 2) Bureau of Education, 
Bulletin No. 20. 

Buell, Jennie: One Woman^s Work for Farm Women. 50c. 
Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston. 

Burnham, Ernest: Two Types of Rural Schools. (191 2) 
129 pp. Teachers College, Columbia, New York. 

'Bntiei^elA, ¥..1^.: Chapters in Rural Progress. $1.00. Univ. 
of Chicago Press. The Country Church and the Rural 
Problem. (191 1) 165 pp. Univ. of Chicago Press. 

Carney, Mabel: Country Life and the Country School. (191 2) 
405 pp. Row, Peterson & Co., Chicago. 

Conference on Rural Education — Proceedings. (1913) 45 pp. 
Wright & Potter, Boston. 

Coulter, John Lee: Cooperation Among Farmers. (191 1) 
75c. Sturgis & Walton Co., New York. 

Cubberly, E. P.: The Improvement of the Rural School. 
(1912) 75 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. Rural 
Life and Education. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 

Curtis, Henry S.: Play and Recreation for the Open Country. 
(19 14) 265 pp. Ginn & Co., Boston. 



1 84 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Davenport, Mrs. E.: Possibilities of the Country Home. 

(Bulletin.) University of Illinois, Urbana. 
Dodd, Helen C: The Healthful Farm House; by a Farmer's 

Wife. (1911) 69 pp. Whitcomb & Barrows, New York. 
Eggleston, J. D., and Bruere, R. W.: The Work of the Rural 

School. (1913) 287 pp. Harpers. 
Fiske, G. W.: The Challenge of the Country. (191 2) 283 pp. 

Association Press, New York. 
Foght, H. W.: The American Rural School. (1910) 361 pp. 

Macmillan Co., New York. 
Gsites,F.T.: The Country School of To-morrow. (1913) 15 

pp. General Education Board, New York. 
Gillette, J. M.: Constructive Rural Sociology. (1913) 301pp. 

Sturgis & Walton, New York. 
Haggard, H. R.: Rural Denmark and its Lessons. (191 1) 

$2.25. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. 
Y{.vXc\dnson,Y.Y^.: Our Country Life. (1912) 316 pp. A. C. 

McClurg & Co., Chicago. 
'K.tvn,0.'^.: Among Country Schools. (1906) 366 pp. Ginn 

& Co., Boston. 
Macdonald, N. C: The Consolidation of Rural Schools in 

North Dakota. (1913) 35 pp. State Board of Educa- 
tion, Bismarck, N. D. 
McKQQver,V^m. K.: Farm Boys and Girls. (1912) 326 pp. 

Macmillan Co., New York. 
Monahan, A. C. : The Status of Rural Education in the U. S. 

Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 
Page, L. W.: Roads, Paths, and Bridges. (1912) $1.00 

Sturgis & Walton Co., New York. 
Pennsylvania Rural Progress Association: Proceedings, 

Rural Life Conference. (191 2) 227 pp. Julius Smith, 

Secretary, Pennsdale, Pa. 
Plunkett, Sir Horace C. : Rural Problem in the U. S. (1910) 

174 pp. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 185 

Report of National Commission on Rural Life. Doc. No. 

705. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 
Schmidt, C. C: Consolidation of Schools. University of 

North Dakota. 
Seerley, H H.: The Country School. (1913) 218 pp. Scrib- 

ner's Sons, New York. Rural School Education. (191 2) 

84 pp. University of Texas. 
Wray, Angelina: Jean MitchelVs School. $1.00. Public 

School Pub. Co., Bloomington, Ind. 

ARTICLES IN REPORTS AND PERIODICALS 

Allman, L. J. : Teachers for Rural Schools. Report, N. E, A. 
(1910) pp. 280 and 575. 

Bailey, L. H.: Why Boys Leave the Farm. Century, 72: 
410-16 (July, 1906). 

Barnes, F. R.: Present Defects in the Rural Schools. Report 
N. D. E. A. (1909) pp. 259-266. 

Bruere, Martha Bensley: The Farmer and His Wife. Good 
Housekeeping Mag., June, 1914, p. 820, New York. 

Conference for Education in the South; Proceedings, 1909. 
Foster, Webb, and Parkes, Nashville, Tenn. 

Consolidation: Drop a postal card to Superintendents of 
Public Instruction for latest printed matter. 

Cotton, F. A. : Country Life and the Country School. School 
and Home Education, 28:90-94 (Nov., 1908). 

Coulter, J. C: Cooperative Farming. World's Work, 23: 
59-63 (Nov., 191 1). 

County Supervision. Report N, E. A. 1908, p. 252. 

Cubberly, E. P.: Politics and the Country School Problem. 
Educ. Review, 47:10-21 (Jan., 1914). 

Gillette, J. M. : The Drift to the City. Am. Journal of Sociol- 
ogy, 16:645-67 (Mar., 191 1). 



1 86 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Hibbard, B. H. : Tenancy in the North Central States. Quar. 

Journal of Economics, 25:710-29 (Aug., 191 1). 
Hill, J. J. : What We Must Do to be Fed. World's Work, 19: 

12226-54 (Nov., 1909). 

McClure, D. E.: Education of Country Children for the 
Farm. Education, 26:65-70 (Oct., 1905). 

Miller, E. E. : Factors in the Re-making of Country Life. 
Forum, 48:354-62 (Sept., 191 2). 

Passing of the Man With the Hoe. World's Work, 20: 
13246-58 (Aug., 1 9 10). 

Rural Life and Rural Education. Report N. E. A. 191 2, 
pp. 281-313. 

Supervision: Index of N. E. A. Reports For County. Re- 
port of 1908, pp. 252-71. 

Wells, George F.: Is an Organized Country Life Movement 
Possible? Survey, 29:449-56 (Jan. 4, 1913). 



INDEX 



Activity and passivity, 179 
Affiliation, 112 
Agricultural colleges, 46, 162 
Apperception mass, 10 1 
Assistant county superintendent, 

134 
Attendance in consolidated achool, 

73 
Automobile parties, 124 

"Back to the country," 9 

Best, the — the cheapest, 157 

Boarding place, 62 

Boy Scouts, 177 

Bright side of rural life, 173 

Camp-Fire Girls, 177 

Character, 83 

Child labor, 180 

China, 107, 144 

Chores, 10 

Church, problems of, 95 

Cities, population of, 19; churches 

of, 23; conveniences in, 20, 21; 

schools of, 22 
Commission, Rural, 9, 164 
Committee of Twelve, 162 
Community activities, 115 
Consolidation, 37, 60, 63, 65, 75; 

cost, 70; difficulties, 64; effects 

oi, 71, 72, 73» 74; process, 63; 

when not needed, 64 



Conventions, 163 
Cooperation, 139, 140, 145, 158 
County superintendence, 129 
Course of study, 108 
Curriculum in rural schools, ico- 
ns 

Dancing, 120 
Debates, 116 
District system, 64 
Diversification in farming, 156, 

165 
Dramatic performances, 118 
Driver, 69 

Education, 77; of teachers, 84; 

value of, 24 
Educational centers, 23; column 

in press, 150 
Environment, 105, 175 
Examination of schools, 135 
Exhibits, school, 122 
Experience, teaching, 85 
Extension work, 166 

Farmer, the, and his home, 152; 

and his politics, 164 
Forum, a rural, 123 

Games, 121, 176 
Grading, 71 



187 



INDEX 



Harvesting machinery, 38-41 
High schools, progress in, 47 
Higher education, progress in, 44 
Hopkins, Mark, 34, 35, 78 
Hours of labor, 170 

Ideal life, 159 
Imitation, 18, 100, loi 
Individual work, 109 
Inseparables, the three, 88, 91, 126 
Interpreting core, loi 
Inventiveness in rural life, 177- 
179 

Kindness, too much, 80 
Knots, untying, 70 

Labor, hours of, 170 
Labor-saving devices, 155 
Laws, self-imposed, 150 
Leadership, 62, 114, 139, 147 
Lectures, 118 
Leveling process, 153, 154 
Library extension, 166 
Literary society, 115 
Literature, urbanized, 22 

Machinery, caring for, 158 
Married teachers, 75 
Men needed in teaching, 53, 93 
Mental factor, 172 
Mixed farming, 165 
"Mode," the, 88, 89 
Model rural school, 61 
Moving pictures, 120 
Miinsterberg, Prof. H., 92 
Murphy, Francis, 141 
Music, 119 

Normal schools, 45 



Ocean travel, 43 
Organization, 26, 125 
"Overflow of instruction," iii 

Physical soundness, 82, 122 
Plant, the educational, 34, 35, 77 
Problem, rural, 24, 36, 37, 57, 131 
Profession, 57, 90 
Profit-sharing, 145 
Progress, lines of, 38-48 
Punctuality, 73 

Reaping machines, 14, 38 

Renaissance, rural, 160 

Responsibility, 142 

Retired farmers, 23 

Retirement fund, 94 

Roads, better, 75 

Routine, 11 

Rural Commission, 9, 164 

Rural schools, 49; backward, 15, 
47, 49; buildings, 28; course of 
study for, 108; good, 36, 61 ; in- 
terior, 31; no progress in, 50; 
organization, 26; ventilation of, 
29 

Rural teachers, 102; courses for, 
59, 103 

Salaries, 87, 96, 97 

School board, 98 

Scientific farming, 165; spirit, 107 

Self -activity, 148, 149, 150 

Social center, 74, 114, 137; cost of, 

124, 126; as business center, 125 
Spelling school, 117 
Sports, 121 
Standards, 54, 58, 90; to be raised, 

92 
Steam engine, 42 



INDEX 



189 



Storm, A. V., 53 

Supervision, 55, 60, 74, 127, 129; 
city, 132; county, 129, 131; im- 
portance of, 127; nominal, 129; 
overdone, 128; purpose of, 132 

Surroundings, effect of, on chil- 
dren, 30, 34 

Teacher, 35, 75, 77, 79, 87, 113; 
chief factor, 34; leader, 62, 114, 
147; courses for, 59, 83, 103 

Terms, school, 55, 109 

Textbook teaching, 104 

Township system, 65, 66 

Transportation of pupils, 67, 69 



Urban trend, 19 
Urbanized literature, 22 

Value of education, 24 
Ventilation, 29 

Wages, 90, 96 
Waste land, 160 
Winter work, 14 
Women's condition, 16 
Work, value of, 10, 14, 157, 180; 
city, 23; farm, 12 

Yearly routine, ii 



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